


The Legend of the Lone Pearl Cowgirl

by pinkbowbunny



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Future, Dystopia, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, M/M, Multi, Other, Outer Space, Space Opera, Western, space western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2020-07-27 06:37:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 68,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20041537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkbowbunny/pseuds/pinkbowbunny
Summary: A "Space-Western"/"Space-Opera" type tale inspired by stories like "Trigun" and "Outlaw Star".In the distant future, on a faraway planet, the rich who polluted the earth they left behind took a huge ship full of people, lord class and servant class, and began to colonize/conquer the new human-sustaining planet they landed on. Several generations after they first landed, their evil kings have almost managed to wipe out their sacred purple-skinned natives...One of the last of them, an orphaned girl named Sandy, has lived most of her life in hiding with her half-brother Dusty. He means well but isn't doing right by her lately, too focused on keeping her alive to let her live... Only dreaming that she'd someday have an adventure like the kind the infamous "Lone Pearl Cowgirl", aka the "Kingslayer" has. But then one day, her sleepy town is attacked by the second most wanted criminal in their world, Earnest Greed! Her brother's fiancé is kidnapped, and she's accused of a crime she didn't commit and thrown in jail with some weird girl!A girl who claims... She's the Lone Pearl Cowgirl's sister...? Please comment or kudo!





	1. An Ending

Dusty had always believed in god. But he had also always believed in the devil...

His father had read about it from that fire-and-brimstone black book he kept at home every night, but even if he hadn't, the terrifying denizen of hell was here, now, howling and whipping him in the face with dust and debris, sand, and the stalks of corn that they'd been trying to harvest all morning. He'd drank his own sweat to conserve water for that grain, and now, the shadow-black demon, a tornado, and it's shrieking winds on the horizon had just appeared, almost out of nowhere, and was simply ripping it out of the ground and sucking it all away into oblivion.

A few years ago, when their crops had failed and the oasis their fathers and forefathers had forcibly taken as their new home had dried up and died, all but the very last of the enslaved native people that once owned these previously blessed and bountiful lands had been consumed by their captors. Even though he was still very young then, the boy remembered, because his stepmother, the last of the hairless purple-skinned people he barely remembered, had only been spared this terrible fate because she had been pregnant with his sister at the time...

But why would the devil hold any regard for that? This Satanic storm had no intention of leaving any of them alive long enough to worry about committing cannibalism again...

"Dusty!" His lavender-skinned little sister cried and clenched onto his pant-leg in terror, tears streaming down her face as gusts constantly blew her golden-yellow hair into her eyes.

He wanted to tell her, as he often did when times got tough, 'It'll be okay, Sandy. I'll protect you.' But he just wasn't sure he could do that, this time...

Staring in dumbfounded horror at the devil of a storm in the not-distant-enough horizon, he nearly jumped out of his skin as he father suddenly appeared at his side, almost shouting right into his ear to be heard over the howling of the wind. "DUSTIN! What're you still doing here, boy?! GO! Take your sister and go home! Find a place to hide until this storm passes over! I gotta salvage what I can or we'll starve! Now HURRY!"

"But what about mama?" Dusty asked in a panic, forgetting that he was not supposed to call her 'mama' around him. A mistake for which he was punished by his foul-tempered and impatient father with smack to the side of the ear.

"Damn it, boy, you know she's not your REAL mother! Now go on, GET!" He replied callously, and then to make it clear he was not to be questioned any longer, he shoved the boy away. Not inclined to stick around anyways, Dusty quickly took Sandy by the hand and dragged her away.

The winds were growing ever louder and louder, until Dusty couldn't even hear his heart pounding anymore, or the pulsing beat from his bruised ear. The withering corn stalks they ran through kept whipping them in the face and on their bodies as they ran though it, but they didn't dare stop to nurse the pain. The tornado behind them was only getting closer by the minute, and even if they did manage to get to safety in time, it still might not spare them the fate of their precious maize at the end of the field, ripped up right from the earth and thrown across the planet to god only knew where…

They'd made it out of the fields and had nearly arrived at the base of the mesa that they called their home, when Dani, Sandra's birth mother and the last of the original Native people that had once lived here before their father's people came, cut them off just as they were about run into the house to hide.

"Go, not there!" She exclaimed, trying to explain with her limited understanding of the villager's language.

"Father said to hide in the house—" Dusty tried to explain to her, but she dismissed it on the spot.

Kneeling down before the two of them, she peered deep into the boy's eyes, searching for the part of him beyond his panic and confusion. "I take care of you, yes? I grow you, like my own son. I want you safe always. Yes, understand? You believe me?"

He barely hesitated but a second before nodding back. Though his father apparently held an unreasonable and unfounded grudge against his second 'wife' for the death of his first, Dusty had barely ever known his birth mother. She died when he was barely more than a baby, so it was Dani who had always taken care of him - Fed him, cleaned him, clothed him, and soothed him when he got sick or when his father hurt him. He had nothing but love in his heart for her, and so he of course trusted her, despite the ugly words of his father and others.

She didn't spare the time to look relieved or touched, but instead, immediately pointed up at the pathway that wound around the mesa and led to the top, where a great natural basin collected the very limited rainwater that they used to drink and water their crops in the plains at the bottom. "You follow me! House not safe enough! I know better safe place! Come now, come fast!"

The urgency in her voice left no room for doubt, so despite his terror, Dusty didn't protest for a second when she took him by the arm, and dragged him behind her as he was dragging Sandy behind him, and led them up to the pathway.

He was beyond terrified. He didn't have to look back to know that the storm was getting dangerously close, and he wanted desperately to hide like his father had told him to. But Dani's grip was strong on his hand, steeling his nerve as she led him up the winding path with a desperate determination.

The wind was getting so harsh that it nearly swept them off the edge of the path once, but Dani held onto them as if her own life depended on it, forging against the winds as if she were made of the great and ancient stone they climbed, and finally, they came to a fork in the pathway, where one way was known to lead to the top of the mesa. The other, a dead end.

To Dusty's shock and confusion, Dani began to tug them towards the dead-end path. He almost hesitated, almost wanted to go running back down towards his home. But the twister was now so near, he knew he would never make it back down in time. He had to trust her.

So they took the dead end path, and sure enough, when they got to the end of the path, it seemed that all there was to greet them was the edge of a cliff. But Dani kept pulling them towards the end of the path, and for just a moment, a deep, cold fear seized Dustin's heart. Why was she leading them there? What reason could she possibly have? Inside his head, his father's prejudiced words were poisoning him. Was she going to try and spare them, by throwing them off the cliff...?

He tugged back, but she held firm, and bent down to remind him, "I never hurt you, Dusty. Come, please! I save you!"

Timidly, he nodded, and inched towards the edge of the cliff. A particularly strong gust came from behind and nearly knocked him over, but he caught himself just in time, and fell to his knees at the precipice instead. It was then that he could see, over the ledge, there was a rather large cup-shaped protrusion, sticking out just a few feet below the cliff. It was striped and full of pretty colors, mostly various shades of red, pink and purple, and big enough that at least a few more adults could enter it at once.

"Is that... A sea-shell?" Dustin inquired in deep confusion. The plains around the mesa were one of the only sources of water and vegetative life for quite a few miles, and outside of that was a desert. They were nowhere near the sea, not even close. In fact, he only recognized the vague shape because one of his uncles owned a sea-shell they had found many years ago and far, far away.

"Dead body of giant god." Dani rushed to explain, no longer caring that she wasn't making much sense. "Very old. Protect my people for years. Protect you now. Go, inside, follow wall. Go! Now, hurry!"

Not waiting any longer for Dustin to get used to the idea, she picked up the wailing Sandra first, and lowered her into the entrance of the shell. Then she urged Dustin to go in after her, and in order to stay by his beloved sister, he obeyed.

He waited in a barely-preserved panic before Dani finally slipped down next to them too, and then began feeling along the inner wall.

They crawled on hands and knees at first, then Dani pulled the children up to their feet. First Dustin, then she grasped her daughter's hand and put it in his, ushering him to hold her up while she helped him. All holding hands, Dani led them along the wall of the shell, taking only small steps at a time, so as not to trip in the darkness. There were small steps leading downwards, carved into the shell from long ago, like a crude set of stairs. It did manage to stable them a bit, but it was slippery, and she had a hard enough time keeping herself up, plus the children.

The little ones were giving their all as well. Dusty had to focus on his current situation for not only his own sake, but his little sister. The shell was slippery from the rain falling into it, and his feet were constantly on the verge of being swept out from under him. Plus, Sandy was barely stable on her lanky little legs on a good day, let alone when she was terrified and cold. She was slipping constantly, and fighting back against his tugging and pulling, because although she had no desire to go back out into the storm, she didn't want to keep proceeding into the pitch blackness of the tunnel-shell either. It took all of Dusty's willpower to keep them both going.

Their perseverance was rewarded soon, for a strange and sudden glow manifested from Dani's eyes, turning their indigo hue into an ultraviolet light and illuminating their immediate vicinity, which at the very least alleviated their fear of the dark. In response to the previously unknown phenomena, Dani merely chuckled dryly under her breath, "We are close..."

Having no choice but to trust her, they continued making their way down the shallow, barely-lit stairs. It seemed to be leading them in a continuous loop, around and around, sloping down further and further, with each ring getting wider and wider until they found themselves at the bottom, where a short pathway led to wide and empty room, complete with a very tall and imposing set of stone doors, engraved with an ancient text that only Dani could read. Like Dani's eyes, the glyphs carved in the rocks were starting to glow from the bottom up. They had been waiting for her here in the dark, and in her even dimmer memory of this sacred and rarely-trespassed place...

They were very heavy doors, obviously. It was meant that normally at least two people versed in Dani's people's magic, or at least one very strong and determined one would be needed to open the door. It was meant to not be easily opened by wild beasts and forces of nature alike.

But Dani was nothing if not determined. She had survived this long thanks to it…

"Dusty! Bring Sandy, come help me!" She pleaded, after struggling to get it to open inch by inch for several minutes, and unable to stand their crying anymore. It served no purpose and they had no time or energy to spare.

Dusty sniffled, and pulled his reluctant little sister along, who now followed out of exhaustion more than anything. They both had barely any strength to lend her, but they did what they could, pushing their little bodies against the door. Though it only budged because Dani was putting all her weight against it, and propping a foot against the nearby wall for more leverage. Her eyes glowed fiercely and her fingers dug into the glowing markings on the doors, disregarding how it broke her skin. Her hands and fingers seemed to emit a spiritual, ghost-like vapor, a half-living mist, and the writing on the walls sapped it from her, along with the blood that trickled from her torn flesh…

When Dani bothered to look down and saw her daughter trying to push the door with her back, she stopped just a second to correct her, although in her rush to do so she reverted to her original language. Sandy couldn't understand the words, but through the motions she got it, and put her hands on the door. Though she didn't believe she could do anything, to both her and her mother's amazement, as soon as Sandy barely even touched the door, it lit up bright as a strike of lightning, all of the glyphs glowing at once. But then it flickered, like a dying light bulb, as the child hesitated, afraid of her own power…

Her mother urged her on, pushing harder herself, "So proud, my daughter! Go, do not stop!"

The old rugged door dug into her shoulder and palms, causing the blood to trickle down her arm. But Dani kept pushing without regard to the pain. Seeing that, Sandy had to give it her all too, and even though he couldn't glow like them, Dusty made as much of a show of pushing and grunting as he could too.

Finally, the heavy stone scooted just enough few inches to be able to let the children inside. She quickly ushered them to do so.

Of course they hesitated. It was already dark but the strange room smelled bad, weird and old, and there was no telling what might be in there. Sandy pleaded, "Mama, I'm scared..."

Dani choked out a sob, the pain now finally too great. And for just a moment, she forgot her hurry, and gained a sort of clarity from the deep desperation of her actions. "I know, daughter... I am too. I was your age, the last time I came here... It was very scary, then and now. But... We are brave! We can do this, we MUST... Now please, go in, and I will keep the door open with another stone. So you can get out later, if I don't come back..."

"Come back-?!" Dusty also started sobbing. "Dani, don't go! Why would you go-?"

"Listen!" Dani shushed him harshly through her tears. "I must go back! For Dina! Her foal ran, she ran for it, but she will come back for me, I know it!"

"The HORSE?" Her adoptive son sputtered, clutching at her legs. "Dani, you can't! You don't know if an animal will come back for you when it's scared! And ain't we more important than a -horse-?!"

For a single second, Dani glanced at him, as if she didn't know him. As if remembering that he truly was his father's son, not hers…

It made him feel ashamed, though he still didn't understand her ways, either.

Putting aside the hurt she felt, she insisted, forcefully, but patiently, "Dina is family to me, too. Like a sister. Even more than that… She is the last of my family, my tribe. The last part of my old life... And she is trying to find me too. I can feel it..."

It ached, but she couldn't bring herself to embrace them. She knew if she did, she'd never be able to let go. But she laid a kiss on their foreheads, before she moved back in the darkness, away from their grasping hands and pleading cries. "Please children, please understand. I will never see my people's heaven if I abandon her! I must go, now. I am almost out of time. But I promise... I will either come back, or... My heart, at least, will stay with you. I will protect you. And you will protect each other..."

She could wait no longer than that to comfort them, or herself. Without another word, she tore herself away from the children, and fled back to the mouth of the shell-cave.

Dusty tried in vain to call after her, but Sandy's screams deafened his own, and he couldn't think to do anything but try to quiet her. So he gathered her up into his arms and hugged her tight, shushing her while she wailed. Her eyes were still glowing, but they were screwed shut while she cried, so in the meantime the two of them were cast into darkness...

His shushing alone couldn't calm her. She was too scared and too confused and too overwhelmed by sorrow to be pacified. But she clutched back at him, burrowing her cries into his chest, trying her best to quiet herself. He was shaking like a leaf around her, but he hugged her all the harder for it.

At first he didn't know what to do or say. He just sat there hugging her while she cried. But after a while, he drew a breath, and let it out, calming himself as best he could. Then, still shaking but doing his best to keep steady, he began to sing.

It wasn't easy to sing above all the outside noises, the wind and the thunder, and because he wasn't a very good singer and he couldn't remember the words to the tune that Dani used to secretly sing to them at bed-time, so it was more of a hum at first, with him barely mouthing what few words he knew to replicate. Sandy could barely even hear him over her own crying, but she could feel the vibrations through his chest, and though she was still terrified, it did comfort her just enough to calm her hysterical sobbing into sniffles and whimpers.

Slowly, the baby girl's blubbering started to cease, and she leaned in against her brother as he sang the familiar old lullaby. Relieved, Dustin rocked her smaller form in his arms and continued to sing the wordless hymn. It was once a song of comfort, but also a song of great sadness. It was a song of a forgotten people, of forgotten families. And saddest of all… Now even that had been forgotten.

Suddenly, while in the middle of his tune, a frighteningly all-encompassing silence passed over them. It was as if all the scary sounds surrounding them had simply been switched off, as easily as one snaps a stalk of grain in half. The abrupt lack of wind and thunder and chaos caused Dustin to leave off his lullaby for a moment, at once entranced by and apprehensive of the queer, qualm quiet...

"Is it... Is it over...?" He dared to wonder aloud, even though he knew his sister wouldn't have the answer for him.

But the answer was promptly provided for him anyways, as the hellish symphony of angry air just as suddenly returned, causing the two children to cover their ears in a panic and scream, easily forgetting their own lullaby. Sandy threw her arms around Dusty and squeezed him harder than ever, and, no longer able to act brave, even for his baby sister, Dusty cried and screamed too, and burrowed his teary eyes onto her soaking wet shoulder.

A few moments after that, and the noises soon faded away. The almost deafening roaring winds became just the ringing in the children's ears and head, and the evil in their nightmares. For in their great fright and exhaustion, they had fallen asleep in each other's arms, unable to subject themselves to any more...

They slept for several hours, waking up randomly due to the cold and burrowing closer to each other's warmth. They didn't speak much. Dustin would rub his sister's back when she began to tremble and cry, and Sandy would try to be comforted by it. But finally, she dared to ask, sometime during that bitterly cold night, "Dusty... Where's Mama?"

He just shook his head. "I don't know, Sandy..." It was technically the truth, but also a lie. There was no telling where that twister had taken her, but there was no way she was still in the world of the living…

After spending the rest of the night in silence, they woke early the next morning – Though it was hard to tell that it was morning by light alone. Sandy's eyes had stopped glowing, so it was pitch-black in this part of the cave, and they had to feel their way blindly by hand to find the stairs and the shell-tunnel they had come in by. But once they finally did, they began to see a hopeful ray of light from the entrance to lead their way. They followed it, slowly, so as to not slip on the rainwater that still lingered on the inside of the shell.  
It got more difficult at the top, as the slope they ascended got steeper and steeper. They had to let go of each other's hands and make the rest of the way on their hands and feet. After a few slips and scrapes, Dustin managed to find the cliff's edge, and pulled himself out. Then he reached back down to help Sandy get out too, who hugged him tightly with a little cry of relief as she finally found herself back in the light of the sun.

"Shh, it's okay now, Sandy..." Her brother soothed her, and patted her hair, before pulling her back up to her feet. "Come on now. We need to go see what happened. Maybe mom hid in the house after all..." He added hopefully, wanting desperately to believe it himself.

But as they carefully made their way down the slippery and debris-cluttered path, their hope soon dissolved into utter devastation, as they witnessed the destruction of their old village below. Every single house, every last hut, was gone. Gone, but for the ripped and rendered remnants of their components, which lay scattered about in every direction.

Sandy began to cry again, and this time, Dustin couldn't hold his own tears back anymore, although they fell silently down his shocked, pale face. He could do nothing, except urge Sandy to continue back down the path, and wipe his tears away as they fell, because in the distance, he could see several men on horseback coming towards them, and he didn't want other men to see him crying.

Not only because it was something his now fallen father would have deeply disapproved of, but because he knew he needed to look tough for Sandy's sake. There was no telling what these men might want of her, but Dustin was determined that they wouldn't have her, not as long as he was around. She was the last person he had in the world to love and call kin, after all. He'd had much too much taken away from him already. He'd die before he let anyone take Sandy, too.

By the time they had made it down the path from the mesa, the men on horseback had made it to the wreckage of their village. There were five of them, and though they were similarly dressed, as humble working men in leather chaps and hempen gear, each had a different personality clearly stamped upon his countenance and by his actions.

The three in front, they got off of their horses right away, and took off their hats to the children, placing them over their hearts in respect for the dead and the mercy for the living. The one behind them was too distracted by the scene to show the same courtesy, looking out at the wreckage in wonder. He even whistled, as if he were impressed.

But the man in the way back, that was the one Dusty had an eye one. The other men were shaven, peppered with stubble, or otherwise kept their beard clean. But that one, his beard was dirty and scraggly. His hair was oily, eyes sunken from long nights of drinking, and his clothes were stained, too. His eyes were mean, and there was no doubt about it, they were focused on Sandy…

"You two the only survivors?" One of the men who had taken off his hat asked. After glancing one more time at the wreckage, and the lack of life among it, Dustin sadly nodded.

"That's a shame. Damn shame..." The kind-looking man, who was strong and fair-haired, and reminded Dusty of his own father, mumbled back. "You're David's boy, aren't ya? Wow. It's been years since I last saw you. You probably don't remember her, but your mother was a fine woman. I'm sorry to hear your father has now joined her. God rest 'em both..." He sighed, before putting his hat back on.

This time the rest of the men tipped their hats to the children, except for the one in the back, who then spoke up, after spitting something dark and tarry to the side, "I reckon we got to figure out what to do with them now, don't we?"

At the suggestion, Dustin immediately put his arms around Sandy's shoulders protectively. "I don't care where we go. But my sister's gotta stay with me…"

The dirty man made a face, as if Dustin had said something so stupid it was barely worth responding to. "Yeah, alright kid. Yer the man of the house now, I guess? Right? Except, did you forget the part where you ain't a man, and you don't got a house?"

"Easy, Jim…" The kinder man intervened patiently.

Jim simply shrugged, without a single care for his callousness. "What? Boy ain't got no parents no more neither, so he's gonna have to learn how to grow up! It's a tough world! He's gonna have a hard enough time taking care of himself, let alone a little girl! Now listen, kid…" He said, finally turning back to the boy, but not even glancing at Sandy. "I been in yer shoes, alright? I lost my ma and pa when I was just a kid, and I got left a kid sister to look after too. Rest assured, yer gonna need the same kinda help I needed back then…"

He was trying to look like he was being considerate, but Dusty didn't feel like any sort of help was really being offered to him at all…

Then dirty old Jim turned back to the kinder man, addressing him by name and in a much more respectful tone. "Now, Earl, I know you too – You got a soft heart, and I bet yer gonna want to take them both in. But that wife of yours at home just gave birth to her first, and you know she's had her hands full enough. John, you and your wife got five, and can barely keep 'em all fed as it is, so you ain't got no business taking in another one neither, let alone two. The rest of y'all don't have a wife yet, and you won't never have one if you're fixing to take in someone else's orphans, let alone one that looks like that..." He added disdainfully, glancing for just a second at Sandy in mild disgust. Not enough disgust to hide his desperation, though. "So, I reckon that leaves but one thing to do with 'em..."

Earl glanced back at him wearily. "And just what do you suppose that is, Jim?"

"...Welp." He continued after a brief pause, as the rest of the men looked back at him too. "The boy's gonna have to make his own way, just like every man's got to. He can find himself a ranch or a mine to work in somewhere. We can probably find one on the way back. As for the girl, well, I reckon my sister could take her in—"

"Your sister?!" Earl cut him off abrasively, shaking his head in disbelief. He clearly considered it an affront to even suggest it. "We all know where your sister works, Jim! And that ain't no place for a little girl!"

Jim apparently seemed genuinely taken aback by that as well. "I beg your pardon, Mister Duke-of-Earl? My sister and I grew up in that fine establishment ourselves! It was good enough for us!"

"And just look how well you turned out for it..." Earl muttered under his breath, but Jim had heard it. He got off of his horse in a huff, and strutted up to the other man with a sneer on his face.

"Just what's that supposed to mean? Huh?! Just what are you saying about me?!" He demanded, looking right ready to fight.

Earl stood his ground. He didn't lose his temper or raise his voice very much, but he insisted firmly, "That ain't no place for children. That little girl doesn't belong in a place like that!"

"Oh like HELL she don't!" Jim turned and kicked the ground, and spat another chunk of sludge dangerously close to Sandra's feet, before turning his head back at Earl, but motioning towards her. "Just LOOK at her! Look at that purple people-eatin' skin colorin' her hide! She ain't one of us, she' not a real human - She's a damn HALF-BREED!"

Earl looked like he was fixing to fight him after all, but before either man could let a fist swing, Dusty suddenly ran up, and kicked Jim as hard as he could in the shin, kicking him with the ball of his heel instead of his toes so it would hurt more, before scurrying back to Sandy, and putting his hands up like a shield in front of her.

"You ain't taking my sister nowhere! I won't let you! She's staying with me!" He declared, sounding much braver than he truly felt inside. "I made a promise to protect her, so I ain't never gonna leave her, you hear? NEVER!"

The men stared at the little boy and his outburst in surprise. The one who had whistled before whistled again, apparently impressed by this too. Jim, however, after nursing his shin, began to advance on the boy with the back of his hand raised, "You little bastard-!"

But he never made it to deliver the blow he intended on Dusty. Earl intervened just in time, grabbing him by the shoulder, turning him around, and punching him right across the face. Jim fell to the ground, getting his beard even dirtier than before in all the mud. Dazed, he didn't get up right away.

"They're coming with me, and that's that!" Earl proclaimed, going over to Dusty and giving him a firm pat on the back. "I could use a strong young man like this on my up-and-coming ranch, in fact. And I'm sure the little lady would be a big help for my wife. What do you say?"

Jim was starting to stir, so the children quickly nodded, and ran over to Earl, who picked them up and put them on his horse. "You'll have to work hard, but I'm sure you're used to that already. I've been telling yer dad to leave this dying place for a long time… Shame he didn't listen… Alright, now let's go! Oh, and uh, Jim?" Earl added over his shoulder. "You ain't invited to my house for supper no more. Go see if your sister will cook you up something at that 'fine establishment' – I hear they have some very, ahem, YEASTY biscuits!"

Most of the other men snickered at Earl's crude suggestion, and the disgusted face he made, and left with him, while only the last one stayed behind to help Jim. After wiping the mud off his beard, Jim glared and gritted his yellow teeth after them. "You ain't heard the last of me, you bastard…!"

But for the moment at least, they had, and they were darn proud of it. Earl got on the horse behind the children, and secured his arms around both of them as they rode off towards the men's campsite. Sandy had been quiet except for the sniffles until then, but she suddenly spoke up now, "Dusty... Why does everybody keep calling me a half-breed, and a 'purple people eater'…?"

"Never mind it..." Dusty snapped back right away, hugging her tighter. Then he added, a little more softly, "Just, don't worry... I'll protect you. I promise. For Dani…"

That caused the little girl to bite her lip. "…Do you think Mama found her Dina?"

Dusty also felt a bit more choked up than a moment ago. Her horse Dina didn't hate him, like she did all the other settlers, but she was never as affectionate with him as she was with Sandy and Dani. It always made him feel like an outsider…

After a few difficult seconds he managed to relax his voice, and hide the feelings in his heart, as his father had always taught him to do. Then he nodded and mumbled back to her, "I think… She left knowing she could. Otherwise, she wouldn't have left us. Right…?"

She nodded quietly, and then in a soft whisper, she added, "I miss home…"

She had no idea what that really even was, had barely ever experienced such a thing in the arms of her mother… But she sensed strongly within her heart that the place she was now leaving had truly been a real home, for someone, once…

Almost as confused as her, Dusty sighed and nodded, placing his chin on her shoulder. "Yeah. Me too..."

But, at least for now… Neither of them looked back.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(( A.N. That's chapter 1! Will post 2, 3 and 4 soon after rereading them, and I'm still writing 5 and 6. Please let me know what you think so far~ ))


	2. The Lonely Pearl

The wind whistled through every inch of the Thousand Canyons territory, blowing in through a window-hole of a clay hut, tickling the pierced ear of a sleeping girl until she roused from the dream that was troubling her, as it often seemed to do whenever she had a particularly bad dream. She often had nightmares or unpleasant dreams at night, most nights in fact, but upon waking from them, she could never recall the specifics. Only the twisted, gnawing fear, the knowledge that the nightmares would only return another night, and leave the same unsettling questions, always unable to ask...

The mysterious child would then reach up and scratch the itch the gust had caused her left ear, her fingernails grazing against the single pearl earring, for which her adoptive people had named her. Their word for it was Ju-Li. Ju, their word for 'pearl'. Li was 'silver'. Silver Pearl.

It was a beautiful pearl, mostly silver. There was just a touch of lavender, if one looked close enough. But Ju-Li rarely let people get that close. In the wild, or when alone with her mother and father, she felt like she was brave. But around other people, she was a shy, jittery child.

Which was just as well. Not everyone in the tribe that had adopted her liked her. Even if it wasn't as obvious as the skin on her body, as different as night and day from everyone else in the tribe. She was pale while they all had dark brown skin, so many had never accepted her as their own, and it had never been a secret that she was adopted. Many hadn't wanted her to join, because they hated the people she came from. Her people, she had been told, although they could also have brown skin like most of the natives did, were evil and selfish, and lacked a vital spiritual connection to the planet. They had come from far beyond the stars, with terrifying weapons, and had proceeded to kill and drive off the native people from their own ancestral lands. Now they had to survive in much less welcoming territories. Many had wanted to drive her out into the wilderness as had been done to them, but thankfully, several more than that had realized that she was just a child, and that she didn't deserve to pay for crimes that she did not commit. But admittedly, most of even those who defended her were often still indifferent or slightly distrustful of her…

Her parents loved her, at least, and that was all that mattered. She tried to stay close to them whenever she could. Father was a vital member of the big game hunting party, a fierce and fearsome warrior, he often led the way and always struck first. He was often gone for days or even weeks at a time. And mother, miraculously, had just had a baby.  
They had raised Ju-Li as if she were their own, ever since they found her as just a small child, dirty, scared, wounded and abandoned in the wilderness. They raised her as if she were the child they had started to believe they might never have, having gone several years of marriage still childless. But now after raising her faithfully for over ten years, they had been blessed with another child, a baby boy that father was very, very proud of. He hardly ever spent time with Ju-Li anymore, and mother spent much, much less time with her too. Despite this, Ju-Li was truly happy for them. She loved her little brother too. But she couldn't deny, at least to herself, it made her much more lonely than before. And she was already pretty lonely…

Once in a while a boy from the tribe would start showing interest in her. She would promptly ignore them completely afterwards, even though she wouldn't mind the company, so as to avoid the wrath of any jealous girls in the village. Most particularly, to avoid Emi and Habi, a pair of sisters that had always had it out for her especially. They were jealous of her for many reasons, but secretly, Ju-Li was actually jealous of them too. The sisters always had each other for company. They had always been very close, always seen laughing together, conspiring together, having adventures together. They were practically inseparable. Ju-Li had always wished she had what they had…

In fact, the only thing she had always wanted more than a sister, was a Sacred Animal...

In this particular tribe, and several other prominent ones, when the parent of a child felt they were truly ready and had reached adulthood, usually between the age of 16 to 26, though in some rare cases it might happen a little earlier or later and on their own, they would be sent into the wilderness to find their Sacred Animal, a familiar with whom they would bond their soul with. The two spirits would from then on forever be in harmony with each other. They would share a psychic connection, which would let them know how the other was feeling, and if they were to somehow be parted, the bond would always lead them back to each other.

You could never tell when death might come for you. But it was almost an assurance that your Sacred Animal would be by your side when that time came. If death came for one first and not the other, they would stay by their side until death had passed, and then live life honorably until it was time to join them again.

In addition, the Sacred Animal could be any kind of animal, but there was a clear favorite among the tribes. The Vali, as they were known in their language, were horse-like animals. They could have hair like a horse, and in many different colors, but most breeds had thick and mostly hairless skin. Either way, they were extremely fast, with fantastic hearing and vision that made them easily skittish when anywhere near a potential predator, and incredibly difficult to capture. Despite that, if a Vali chose to be chosen, it would forever carry their friend through the most dangerous of terrains, and boldly face danger head on with them.

Certain special Vali were also rumored to have supernatural powers, and it was said that only the most worthy would ever be chosen by such a rare specimen. But these rare powerful Vali were also known to only let themselves be chosen a handful of times every hundred years or so. So naturally, most were happy to find a Vali at all, let alone one that might be able to climb up sheer rock cliffs and jump across entire canyons, or cure and purify the poisoned and the sick, as the legends passed by the eldest of their elders told.

Ju-Li's father had a proud and tall Vali, and her mother had a wildcat, though the precious feline had always seemed like just an extra big and fluffy house cat to Ju-Li, despite the permanent mean look on his face. But it was father's Vali that Ju-Li had always admired more than anything. Her father always looked so noble riding it back home from a hunting trip, with meat and pelts hung across his large hind quarters. Ju-Li had always known, deep down, that it was her destiny to someday ride a Vali of her very own.

So since she had so recently been replaced by her brother, and since she was now 17, one night she finally mustered up the courage to ask her father to let her go into the wilderness, to find her own Sacred Animal.

Everyone around the fireplace went suddenly quiet, except for her boisterous little brother, who continued to gurgle and giggle without care. After a short pause, mother continued to feed him, leaving father to explain it to their adopted daughter. "I'm sorry, Ju-Li. But it's out of the question. I'm sure it's not even possible. Because you don't have the blood of the tribe in you. You have to truly be part of the tribe to take part in this custom. Part of our world. It would be too dangerous for you to attempt."

Seeing the tears begin to well up on her eyes, he took pity on her, and quickly added, "Say, I have an idea though! Why don't you marry that young man who lives down by the river, Yimo? He has a beautiful brown Vali, and he's always had an eye out for you. He's only a few years older than you. Why not-"

"I don't want to marry him..." Ju-Li quickly intervened. She avoided the boys in order to avoid the girls, but to be honest, she had never been interested in the boys the same way they were interested in her. "I want my own Vali!"

Though a fierce warrior, her father had always been slow to anger. But when she said that, he quickly got to his feet, towering over her, and boomed, "I said NO! It will NEVER happen! Now if you want to really be a member of this tribe, then you need to settle down with a boy already, and bear children for the tribe! That is the only way the others will ever accept you! You want a spirit guide, you want a vali, as if these things are something I can even GIVE you, as if they are possessions you can own! But what have YOU given of yourself?"

Every word, truthful but venomous, caused another tear to spill. Seeing this, her mother quickly intervened, "Please, Ju-Li. Try to understand. Your father isn't trying to be cruel, it's simply the truth. We couldn't bear to see you get hurt or killed trying to do something that can't be done. And besides dear, don't you think the fact that you're so against having a child, clearly shows you aren't really an adult yet anyways? You see, this is why many parents wait a few years yet to send their children on their journey!"

Ju-Li silently seethed. She knew they meant well enough, but they weren't treating her fairly. None of the other children in the village would ever be expected to marry or bear children before they had gone on the Sacred Journey. Besides, she had been one of those who had assisted in her brother's birth the year before. And after seeing the process firsthand, it cemented her resolve to never, ever have children of her own. Who the heck would actually want to go through THAT?

But clearly, talking about it would do her no good for now. So instead she dropped the conversation, finished her supper, and then retreated to her sleeping area.

...For a couple hours, until her parents went to sleep as well. Then she quickly but quietly rose from her sloth-bear-skin blanket, slipped on her fur-lined leather moccasins, and then gathered a sack, which she filled with a jug of water, a handful of nuts, some corn cakes, and one of her father's sharpest hunting daggers. Then she slipped out of their clay adobe home, looking back only once, to resolve to them silently that she would come back to them with her own vali, soon enough...

There were guards at the entrances of the village, on the lookout for intruders or beasts. But it was easy enough to climb a nearby hill, and stay up and out of their line of vision, ducking between cacti and bushes until she reached the forest. Once there, she made her way through with great haste but also great caution. There was much more at stake with Saber-toothed wolves running around than just waking her parents up. Every once in a while she'd hear a growl in the distance, and climb up a nearby tree. A sloth-bear might be able to climb, but it wouldn't be able to catch up with her.

Dawn was nearly approaching by the time she cleared the forest and made it into the next stage of her journey - The Greenest Canyons. Despite the positive-sounding name her people had given it, and that fact that it was some of the most lush and life-filled canyons in the vast and mostly barren territory, it was also well known for the terrifying and deadly creatures that lived and hunted there.

'You never go near the water', that was one of the first things her father had ever told her about his trips there, and it was why it was so important to conserve your water while there. Anyone foolish enough to go near the water's edge for even a few seconds to try and take a drink would find themselves in the pincers or jaws of a crocodile-crab, or wrapped in the coils of a massive river serpent.

But don't think you're safe in the trees around here, either. They're too tall to climb safely anyways, and even if you could, there's also more snakes and reptilian apes up there, as well as some long and sharp-beaked birds that are mean tempered on their own, but potentially deadly in a swarm. None of these will bother to hide from you either, they'll send you to your death in a kaleidoscope of colors and pain.

So the young girl tread lightly, avoiding twigs that would alert her presence if stepped on, and staying out of the beams of dawn's light that shone in through the gaps of the forest's canopy. It was just dark enough that she wouldn't be able to see the predators around her, but if she wasn't careful, they would easily be able to spot or hear her...

An hour passed, and then another. The sunlight grew stronger and the dozens of creatures around her began to stir, slither, hoot and holler. But the sound of a Vali snorting or whinnying eluded her. The fear of being killed in a futile effort to find something that wasn't there continued to nag at her, but she was determined not to prove her parents right so easily. They would never let her go out again after all, when they found out she left without permission. She had to make this trip worth it...

Suddenly, the edge of a cliff peeked across the horizon, a cliff made of purplish-black stone. The edge of the Greenest Canyons led to the Blackest Canyons, and her heart seized up with terror. As much as she hated to admit it, this was where she knew she had to stop and go back. The Blackest Canyons was where even her father and the rest of her tribe's bravest members dared not trespass. It housed the darkest demons, the most ferocious and savage monsters, and-

And... A Vali. A young one, barely more than a foal. She could hear it crying at the bottom of the cliff...

Mustering up her courage, she ventured towards the edge of the cliff, and peered down. It was far from the steepest fall one could have, but it was still far enough to kill you if you weren't careful enough and slipped, for at the bottom was nothing but a cliff from what she could see, and then, a bed of jagged rocks leading to a raging river...

Feeling brave, but also knowing this was extremely foolish, she left her pack of supplies at the top of the cliff, and very, very carefully began to ascend down the cliff-face. The jagged rocks made it easy to find lots of places to grab and feel for with her feet, but the jaggedness also made it very easy to tear and cut herself, even covered with leather clothes and boots and gloves. It was grueling, but she made her way down slowly. Be sure though, she would be risking this for nothing else but her Vali, which she was sure this was. She could feel it calling to her, not just the actual cries of the animal, but in her heart, feint but surely there, it was like she could feel it calling to her very soul...

She was very close, but then she realized suddenly, that there was a cave in the cliff that she hadn't been able to see from above, that left a 7 to 8 foot drop to the bottom where the foal was. Mustering up her courage, but also expecting a harsh landing, she let herself go instead of continuing to dangle. And to her surprise, the foal suddenly darted forth to catch her! Although just a foal it could support her weight, because it was closer to an adult than it was a baby, and Vali were often a little larger than the average horse when full grown, some few muscled males even reaching the height of an elephant, although they tended to most resemble a horse... This one was a beautiful silvery grey, almost the color of her pearl...

But just as quickly as it caught her, it whinnied with fear and reigned back very quickly, away from the mouth of the cave. Just very briefly before it scurried out of sight, Ju-Li saw and heard why. There was a dead vali's body, half eaten, an adult female. The foal's mother...

And it had been dragged away by a hook-like appendage, like a scorpion's tail, except the bulbous part wobbled and made a strange swishing noise that sounded a lot like what any English-speaker who saw it would logically be thinking, "shit shit shit shit shit"...

She gasped, involuntarily, when she realized what it was. Her people called it the Shitrevn. 'Shit', the noise it made, and "Revn", their word for death. A shitty death, basically. The outsiders from beyond the stars called it "The Beast of Cussin' Canyon" when they encountered it years ago on an exploration of the canyon, and had decided based on that experience to never come back, despite the many resources within the canyon.

Even before she heard it moving in the cave, she wanted to get away... But the tail came out again, except this time, the hook had been reshaped, like putty, to faintly resemble a human woman. One with dark hair and light skin, like her...

She wondered who it was, why it was so much more familiar than her own adopted mother, and yet, so painfully distant... But before she could reach out to the shape, the memory that the evil creature had read and crafted, the vali reigned back, riding off with her on its back... Over the cliff-side to the raging rivers...

The scream caught in her throat, so she braved the terror silently, grasping the black mane of the vali, believing for just a second that the creature had decided to choose the slightly more merciful of two deaths for them. Considering the other option had been the jaws of the Shitrevn, she found herself almost grateful to the poor thing, and so she met her horrible fate with her as courageously as she could, hugging her face to her neck...

Stunningly, when they hit the water, it wasn't even half as harsh as Ju-Li was expecting. To her complete shock, she could barely feel the water rushing through her, and at the same time, she was hit with a realization even colder than the waters should be, that the raging river was in fact rushing -through- her...

'This can't be real,' she thought, 'It's the shock of the cold water. The water's so cold that I've gone into shock. But the water's NOT cold. It's not cold at all. Why isn't this ice-cold water cold...?'

She was still trying to rationalize this with herself, but suddenly, the truth was hammered into her like a boulder through the face, as the vali and its rider literally went right through a giant boulder, jutting out through the middle of the rushing, foaming river. If not for the death-like grip Ju-Li had on the creature's wiry mane, she might have been knocked off of its back from the shock. She didn't know when she had done it, but her fingers were twisted and tangled in the vali's coarse and strong, and very rare neck hair... Most vali in these canyons were pure-bred and completely hairless, not mixed with the blood of the strange, otherworldly vali brought to their planet by those bastards from beyond the stars... But this one was some kind of rare hybrid, and that fact alone was what she now owed her life to...

There was no time to marvel at her stroke of luck now, however, as she was struck by a temporary blindness while her body phased through the rock. As soon as they emerged from the other side, the vali veered to the right, exited the river, and then proceeded to run right toward the cliff face...

Even if she had time to decide what to do, it would have been an impossible task - Try to jump off and nothing would greet her but jagged rocks. After that the Shitrevn would surely devour what was left of her...

But the possibility that lied ahead was equally terrifying. Was the vali going to try and run right through the entire canyon, right through miles and miles of solid rock? What if Ju-Li were to fall off its back at some point before the vali re-emerged with her? Would she die, alone, completely encased and enslaved in stone...?

Her fate was only seconds, inches away. She scrunched her eyes closed and buried her face into the vali's mane. 'Oh my gods, please help me...!'

Her faith was rewarded with naught but another trial, as the vali's body went vertical, and slipped out from beneath her bottom. She gripped onto the clutch of mane with a shout of shock and terror, for now her life really truly did depend on just a few hairs. The vali was galloping at full speed, up the sheer wall of the cliff, and Ju-Li's body was simply dangling in mid-air, her feet kicking at the emptiness.

Focused on not falling to her death, which was becoming almost impossible with the creature's frantic, jerking gallop and gravity working against her, she could hear, but couldn't bring herself to look down and confirm, that something large and heavy has started to scurry around not far below them. Something with pincers that snapped, and a large, long body. Something that normally would almost never leave the safety and comfort of its dark, cool home for more than even a few seconds…

But apparently, this was a meal too rare and delectable not to be pursued…

Gravity suddenly shifted and she found her torso falling onto the back of the hybrid foal, her death grip on the mane and her shaking, quaking legs squeezing her stomach. Trees and vines and all kinds of foliage started passing by and through her in an impossibly fast blur. She could feel everything and yet felt nothing all at once. The speeds had to be at least 5 to 10 times more than the average horse or vali. She honestly had no idea how she managed to hold on through it all, but they eventually reached familiar ground, and the creature slowed down just slightly, to a reasonable speed. It had put some distance between the two of them and the monster, but not enough to rest just yet. She almost wondered why it had not just kept running, but then she turned her head around frontwards and noticed in the near distance, her father, the mighty warrior Haga, was riding towards them on his regal bluish-black vali…

The hybrid suddenly snorted in the presence of her father's vali, annoyed and very embarrassed suddenly at being seen being ridden by Ju-Li. So she reared up, then fell over like dead weight to the side, finally shaking the rider off of her. Dazed from having the vali essentially roll over her for a few seconds, Ju-Li lay flat on the ground, stunned and with the air knocked out of her, unable to do anything but watch as it promptly ran away after that. To her relief though, from the same direction the rare vali-hybrid was running away, her father was now riding towards her, just a few more feet and he'd-

Just above her head, she felt and heard a heavy 'whoosh'... A shadow of something passed over her and before her eyes could follow, it had already gone through her father's midsection, simultaneously decapitating his vali. Their eyes both went lifeless at the same time, before their bodies even hit the ground...

She gasped in shock, but she didn't use that breath to cry out for him. Enraged to her core, she knew exactly what she had to do. And as if possessed by her father's warrior spirit, she sprinted forth, running like a little rabbit on all fours until she got to her father's fallen body. She stopped only to grab his large, jagged hunting knife, doing her best not to look at his body too long, then scurried back around, facing the creature that now crouched a short distance away.

The tail was the longest part of it. The body was like a giant white scorpion, with the thorny pincers and the sharp, claw-like legs, squat compared to the long and malleable, putty-like snake-tail behind it in lieu of a typical armored and bulbous scorpion tail, it coiled up behind it, ready to lash out again at any time, and changing the tip and the end of its tail from the scythe form that had killed her father, into a vaguely female-humanoid form. It seemed to tauntingly hold it out and shake it at her, as if making fun of her for daring to stand up against it… She couldn't even understand why yet, but the pantomime of the human form pissed her off even more...

She was aware that this was basically suicide. She was aware there was no way she'd ever win this fight, and that it'd be a miracle to even harm this creature in any way. But she decided, if she could do at least that, she would, and she would gladly die for that chance to avenge her father. A man as proud and glorious as that should have died in a real and honorable battle, not trying to save a cursed wretch like her…

She suddenly screamed, and darted after the titan, the demon, which only seemed all too amused by the efforts of its dinner, like a cat watching a mad rat froth and try to fight it when possessed by a parasite. Ju-Li felt very much indeed like she was possessed, but not by a parasite – By the spirit of her father, calling out for vengeance.

The huge, unholy behemoth stared her down, not moving. It was sure of what she would do. The only part of it that she could hurt was the eyes. It would sting her right before she reached them, through her silly, emotional little human heart…

But, now focused on Ju-Li, the massive predator didn't notice the vali coming back in a flash until it was already at Ju-Li's side, and as soon as Ju-Li saw it too, she reached out and took a clump of the mane in her hand, running up to the side of the hybrid and miraculously managing to pull herself on, the both of them phasing into transparency when the hellish thing tried in vain to cut them in two again. It went right through them, but did nothing to stop them.

The silvery vali then jumped into the air, over the Shitrevn's face and eyes entirely, and landed on its lower back.

What Ju-Li saw there made her understand instantly what she had to do, and she jumped into action, and off of the vali. She was putting her life in danger, but if she took the time to doubt herself she knew that would be seconds too late. For there, between the end of the scorpion body's armor, and the putty like snake tail, was, well… The creature's anus. Normally on a regular scorpion, it would be at the tip of the long and also armored tail, just before the stinger. But the demon-creature's odd features had a slight adjustment.  
She ran to it, brought the jagged knife down on it with both hands and with all her speed and ferocity. Then she quickly pulled it back out, because she'd be damned before she would leave her father's knife in such a disgusting place, and ran back with the weapon to the vali, who she was very glad to see had stayed this time. As soon as she reached her she grabbed her hair again, also very glad that the vali didn't seem to mind it, and pulled herself up onto it.

The vali leaped with her as soon as she made it, just past the mortal wound that she had just dealt to the beast. Furious and in horrible pain, the behemoth then tried to stab them with a drill-like stinger it just fashioned, and in fact just ended up stinging itself again on its new wound, while the equine little alien galloped away on thin air, carrying the unharmed girl away from the whole scene, and back towards her fallen foster father. Behind them, the drill-like stinger of the horrible creature ended up getting poison and feces into its own bloodstream, instantly making it terribly sick. It then wisely decided to scurry away back to its cave instead of pursuing them, where it would soon die.

When they landed, she knelt down, and caressed his head and hair and face. His blood got on her, but she ignored it. And she soon forgot about it entirely, for in the next moment, after allowing him a moment of silence, she felt her father's spirit appear before her. And indeed, she looked up, and there he was.

He beamed proudly. Then he spoke to her…

"Go, child. Go into the world, be who you truly are, and find what you seek..."

With that short but meaningful bit of advice, his spirit, his soul-dust, the last tie to his physical self, faded away into the other-world, joining as one with his spirit animal as a complete and perfect being once again…

A few more tears fell for him, and there were much more inside of her still, but after that she wiped away the rest, and got back up to approach her silver savior.

Standing before the sacred being and staring into her eyes, the little human girl pleaded, "I humbly beseech you… Will you please take me home?" Despite the feat she had just achieved, she knew it was a fluke. It was only because of this divine being's help and her father's sacrifice that she prevailed, and she didn't feel strong or confident enough to walk all the way home again. Even now she felt as if something else would jump out from the wilderness and get her, especially in her weakened state. She didn't feel like pressing her luck so soon after catching so big a break.

The young vali seemed to regard her strangely. Despite the actual age of the animal, she looked at her like a much older soul. She had a sight that most others did not, so she knew the girl didn't have as much to fear as she thought. The remaining creatures around them were not going to try to mess with the beings that had just slain the most powerful demon in the canyon…

Yes, it had been mostly with the help of the vali, but the girl was the one who made the killing blow…

Still, the vali was not just intelligent, but empathetic. She sensed the girl's feelings and understood them personally, and so she rewarded her loyalty with a bit of her own, as way of apology for trying to leave her before. The little vali had no plans of doing that again…

Shaking, the girl climbed up on her back, this time gripping the ponytail on the back of the vali's neck at least a little bit gentler than before.

At least, until the beast took off at full speed, then it was back to barely hanging on for dear life...

Still, at least she got them home in record time. What would have taken her about ten or more hours to trek, took the hybrid well under only one hour.

Ju-Li really wasn't sure how she managed to hang on to the unbelievable being at all, at the speeds it was going. She felt extremely numb and ghostlike during the ride so it was hard to say exactly what she was experiencing.

But she was sure of at least one thing, one thing that the creature herself made very clear to her via telepathy, not actual words in any human language but simply the knowledge being transferred to her mind… It was made clear to her that this was a favor. The creature did not owe her this. She was merely being nice to her. She was helping her, but she could leave her at any time for any reason. If she treated her kindly, she would help her as long as it remained convenient to do so, and posed no risk to her. If she was ever foolish enough to cross her, she'd leave her in a pit of despair.

More than fair, Ju-Li thought, for a wretch like me who got her father killed…

And naturally, this was still the thought weighing down her heart and mind when she arrived at her mother's front door, where her mother rushed to open and greet her, seconds after spotting her arrive from the skies on a strange vali, while she was glancing out the window. She had expected to see her husband arrive with her in tow, with her looking more than forlorn. But not without him, and… Covered in blood…

The girl seemed to be choking up on what to say as well. When she got off the horse, she tried to tell her mother, but it was just so much. She managed to force it out with much pain and difficulty, "Father… He's… Gone…"

Then it really was too much for her to bear, any part of her. She felt herself slipping, falling, but she never felt her body hit the ground. Her senses simply went blank, pure black…  
But not for long... Pure white. Consciousness. Then, colors starting filling up the almost endless canvas. Big, big, incredibly tall… That was the first thing she sensed, which didn't make much sense, because the hut's walls weren't that big at all…

Shapes and colors, filling up the big and tall space around her. Shapes and colors everywhere, but it took her a while to realize what exactly she was seeing. Blocks and cubes became ornate furniture. Sofas and cabinets and curios, a large desk with a fancy leather swivel chair. Most of these words meant nothing to her, but she vaguely remembered what they were used for…

These things were strange to her, things that no native home had ever seen, and yet still, they made sense to her. They were normal, nothing to fear…

Except then a scene played out before her…

A man walked in. A tall and very regally dressed man. She somehow just knew, this was her father.

She sensed that she was waiting for him. He had come for a rare visit.

Her sister… Yes, she had a sister, didn't she? Her sister, a girl just a bit older and taller but otherwise almost identical to her, came in after her father, just right behind him… Then she reached into her dress pocket.

She… Pulled out a 'gun'… Natives didn't have guns, but she knew what it was, and what it did, and what it was about to do…

Then it happened. She raised the weapon, he looked back at her, and she fired into his chest, right through his heart. Then, once he had fallen, she came up to him, immediately and without mercy, and fired another shot into his head, right between his eyes, even though he was already dead. She was so quick, and so calm… She even had a tiny smirk on her face, which bloomed into a full and mirthful smile.

Images suddenly started flashing by in a nightmare. Her and her sister running down long corridors, her sister shooting more people, first their mother, then a guard, before she somehow managed to get them out of the huge place. It all flashed by so fast, Ju-Li (she could remember all these faces but their names, as well as her own true name, eluded her) couldn't be sure how she did it. All she knew was that one minute, she was inside the castle, and the next she was in the courtyard, and then soon after, a forest…

Her sister… She followed her for at least a few hours. It was so cold, so dark, she stumbled and hurt herself a few times… She was getting so weak, so she begged her big sister, please, stop, we can't keep going on, where are we, it's scary, please let's go back…

Her big sister got mad, started screaming at her. Asked her where her real sister was, accused her of being a spy! Then she threw her hand away, disgusted, and ran, calling for her real sister. Terrified of being left alone, she tried to run after her, but she stumbled and fell, and hit her head hard. Then… She woke, to her mother and father in the native tribe caring for her…

Except if that had already happened, what about those strange images that came before…?

Suddenly she just knew… They were real too, and her sister… Her sister was still alive, out there, somehow. She knew her sister had killed their father and mother, but she was alive, and still out there in the world.

Ju-Li needed to find her. She needed to know why. She knew all this in an instant, and that there was so much more she needed to know…

Her journey, her very life's purpose, started anew as soon as she gasped awake into consciousness. Her vision spun for a few seconds, and when they finally settled, she realized that she was once again in her native parent's tiny clay home. It almost felt cramped now, even though she'd never felt that way about it before…

But it felt especially cramped when she realized that her native mother Hopa was sitting next to her, looking as serious and solemn as the grave. Ju-Li immediately knew why, but couldn't bring herself to address it just yet.

Despite the emotions overwhelming her, Hopa managed to be the one to do it, though her throat was thick, her fury gave her the will to fight through it. "…They found Haga two days ago. And his vali…"

Her adopted daughter bowed low to the ground at that, tears springing from her eyes. "I, I'm s-so sorry! I'm so sorry! I—"

"Stop." The older woman commanded, and the girl hesitantly obeyed while she continued, "Your apologies mean nothing to me, because your apologies will never be able to bring him back, and that's all that matters to me concerning you, now… You know. I thought about killing you for this, while you slept…"

Ju-Li's eyes went wide, and her heart dropped like a stone into the pit of her stomach. If her mother really meant that… Then it probably wasn't okay with her to call her 'mother' anymore, to say the least…

With the way she was looking at her, with a haunted, hating look settled deep into her exhausted eyes, it was clear that was the case…

Ju-Li wisely said nothing in response to that. Of course she didn't want that, but she couldn't blame the woman either, if she wanted to do that…

But it was still her mother, deep down. If any other person had caused the death of her husband, Hopa would have already attacked them for it…

"…I wanted to kill you, and I still do…" The mother who was no longer hers, reiterated to her, "But… That won't bring back my Haga either… And I think death would be too swift for you. I think you need to understand fully what you have done, you thoughtless, cursed child, you…"

Hearing such words from the woman who she had always thought of as her mother was hard… But her own guilty conscience, the knowledge that she absolutely and complete deserved it, that made it almost too unbearable to stand. She almost wanted to run away on the spot, but her heavy, guilty heart held that inclination down like the rock it currently felt like. She would let Hopa say and do anything she liked, no matter how painful. It was only fair…

Suddenly though, Haga's son Hama began to cry. Hopa caused, then left Ju-Li to go fetch him. She would not let her son suffer for a second to deal with this girl. Putting the child to her breast, Hopa went back on her tirade, cradling the baby both to comfort the child, and herself. "He should never have been there at all, because YOU should not have been there, because you were TOLD not to go! And to increase the chances of finding you, he told the men who came with him to split up. Even alone, he could have handled just about any beast that came his way… But you had to be unbelievably stupid enough to go near a demon-god?!"

She tried to explain. Timid, throat thick, she tried tell her in a weak, strained voice, "I, I didn't know… And, the vali, it needed help, and I just had to help it. I just felt so strongly that it was calling to me, like we were connected—"

"NO." Hopa cut her off there, and even her wildcat, silently watching so far in a corner with her ears drawn back, hissed at Ju-Li for that, clearly offended. "You have NO idea what you're talking about. You and that animal do NOT share a connection, and before you even ask, I already know because you JUST said, you 'felt like'. You wouldn't just feel it. You would KNOW. And if you still don't believe me, here—"

Getting up, with the apprehensive babe still suckling at his agitated mother's breast, Hopa went to the entrance of her home and whistled to the vali, asking it plainly when it came over, "Is that girl, Ju-Li, the girl behind me, your Shared Soul? Your Connected, your Destined? Is it that girl, right there?" She stressed to specify, pointing directly at her with her free hand.

The silvery creature shook her long head in a clear 'no' pattern, and trotted back outside without another care. Hopa shrugged, expecting no less, "I can't make it any more obvious for you, can I?"

Shamed silent, Ju-Li shook her head no as well. Without care for her already great shame, Hopa continued to mercilessly pile it onto the girl, "So. My husband is dead because you foolishly wandered into the lair of a titan, looking for something we told you didn't exist. You put him in unnecessary danger, a danger that you apparently only survived because you were lucky enough to be saved by a very rare vali that took pity on you, and wasn't even obligated in any way to do anything for you! I'm sure if it were a full grown vali it would have been loyal to Haga first, but I don't blame the baby for saving you instead, since Haga and I made the same mistake once when we were young and naive!"

Being called a mistake was especially brutal, but Ju-Li let it bear down on her, and still refused to bolt from her home until Hopa was completely done. It was because she knew she deserved it, but also because, she knew what was soon to come anyways. She wanted to stay as long as she could, even just a few seconds more, even enduring such abuse, before she knew she was about to be banished forever…

But Hopa still wasn't done with her yet. "My husband is dead, my son's father is dead… We will suffer for his loss all our lives. And what's more, you have ended our village's greatest warrior. So not just us, but everyone in our village will suffer for his loss. We will not just have far less meat and fur, we will have far less joy without his presence… So, even if I had any desire to keep you, I wouldn't and I couldn't, because there aren't going to be enough resources to, anyways. And besides that, keeping a cursed one in our midst will surely only bring further misfortune. And you are cursed because like all other of your kind, even though we raised you, you just cannot understand what we tried to make you, and what you couldn't accept led to my Haga's death... Being willing and able to do something are both admirable. But to have a true destined companion, a spirit animal, you must be more than just willing and able… You must be WORTHY. And you and your whole kind are NOT. Now… Go. Now."

Hating her made it easier to banish her. Treating her like a monster made it far less difficult to distance herself from the girl, while holding her son, who was starting to fret now, reminded her of why she had to keep going, and not relent. It was killing a part of the woman to shun her, but she had to, because if she didn't, the other villagers would soon come to kill her themselves...

Though she understood, Ju-Li still could not help but cry and sob over it now. It was finally… Final. She was banished. Dead to her family. Even though she had to accept it, even though her mother would not respond, she pleaded to her anyways, "I am so, so sorry… I swear, I will do everything in my power to atone for this. I will live my life to bring as much peace and life to others as I can… But also…"

She hesitated to mention it, but since it would get no response either way, why not… "I had a vision while I slept. I… I had a sister. She killed our mother and father and then abandoned me in the forest. I hope you can someday believe again that not all of my kind are cursed, but I think that if I am, then my sister's sins must be the reason why… So I think I should find my sister and… I don't know, find out why she did it, and bring justice to her…?"

She didn't know what she was saying. It sounded foolish now, but strangely, her mother actually broke tradition to respond to them, to give the girl she raised one last piece of advice. Despite everything, she couldn't push the girl completely out of her heart, a little piece of her spirit would always remain… "Follow your dreams, and your instincts… Even your people can access those. Let them guide you now, because I will no longer. Now go…"

The girl sobbed some more, and nodded... It broke her heart to rise from the hearth, splintered her very soul to turn her back away, but she slowly managed to do it. Each step was like lead, but she walked out of the house one final footfall at a time. Once outside, she headed towards the village exit opposite to the one she had used last time, and trudged away from her home and through the village in silence and shame, head down, not looking at anyone who came to stare at her as she left. She was lost in her own head, her own grief, her own complete cluelessness about what to do or where to go next, when suddenly she heard someone call out, "Wait!"

She looked behind her. It was the elder of the sisters who always tormented her, Emi. Ju-Li was confused at first, but then even more so when the girl went on, "No, not you, outsider! The vali! Hey vali! Why are you following her?"

Looking directly behind her, Ju-Li realized that in fact, the silvery-grey vali-horse hybrid that had aided her against the monster whose wrath she had incurred, was still following after her…

Her breath caught in her throat as the creature confirmed her feelings and general intentions to the girl. She spoke the realization aloud, even though the villagers around her had also been transmitted the same brief message. "She's worried about me. She's going the same way as me anyways. She's going to accompany me until she finds her true Fated…"

The younger sister hadn't gotten her Fated yet, but the older one had a mean looking raven-hawk on her shoulder, and they both bristled up with betrayal at the vali's suggestion. "What! You would help an outsider before you help us? With your rare powers, we could-!"

But their mother, a gruff woman with a saddled boar-bear as her companion, shoved the elder daughter to discipline her, and to convey her embarrassment and displeasure with her words. "Shush, girl! You do not own that vali, and you do not question her! She will do as she wants! We are not like the outsiders who force animals and even their own kind to work like slaves for them! The vali is free to follow her if it wants! Now apologize to the sacred animal and wish her well on her journey!"

The younger sister hid so that she wouldn't get in trouble too, and the older one reluctantly gave an apologetic bow, but to the creature only… "I am very sorry, sacred vali. I meant no disrespect. I wish you well on your journey… I simply hope the cursed outsider does not cause harm to come to you too, oh benevolent one!"

Her mother couldn't begrudge her that quip, for all the villagers were also thinking it. Even if their destined was still out there, why would a sacred animal with such rare powers use them to aid one of the people who cursed their lands and their native people…?

But it was as it was said. The vali would not be questioned, and she simply continued walking, nudging Ju-Li to do the same.

It was still immensely hard, but having someone on her side made it much more bearable and dignified. And Ju-Li swore that she'd die before she ever saw harm come to her unexpected ally and benefactor…

So they walked side by side, out of the village perimeters. They walked through the white-barked woods, the orange, purple and crimson canyons – They walked all day, and when night fell, they would find a cave or a tree hollow to sleep in, and Ju-Li would curl up next to the young hybrid, snuggling against her belly. As a way of comforting both herself and the other young orphan, she rubbed her belly, like a mother would do for her child. She had a round little belly, even though the rest of her was on the skinny and lanky side. Until her mother had been caught, she had been giving her plenty of milk…

Both of their bellies rumbled in the morning. Ju-Li caught a few fish with a spear made from a tree branch in the morning. She shared half with the hybrid, and they would share any fruits, nuts or edible roots they found along the way. When it was getting late in the day, and her feet ached from walking, the vali let her ride her for a few hours before finding another place to take shelter at nightfall, to stay hidden from the predatory creatures that roamed at night, like the giant stone-belching toads, tribes of madly-chuckling, meat-eating apes, or the various prides of wildcats and packs of wolves that snarled after their scent, but were always frustrated to find them thin as air if they ever did try to get close enough to try to take a bite. This routine went on for a few weeks as they went far, far away from her old home.

Once in a while the vali would use her strange powers to cross very difficult terrain. But if she did not need to use her power, she didn't. It seemed to take a lot of energy out of her to use them for too long…

Finally, they came to the edge of last canyon in the territory, a majestic red giant that gave you a great view of what laid before, if there was anything much to view, that is. For miles and miles it would be nothing but desert. But if you made it past that, you would soon be greeted by one nice big manor and a few dozen or so ugly little gray and brown buildings, belonging to a poor little town that was said to be across from it. The settler's civilization…

Usually if one person were to try to cross the desert alone, it would almost assuredly mean their certain death. Thankfully the half-vali once again allowed Ju-Li to ride on her, and she carried her across the desert at her unnatural speeds. The sands went by in a blur of gold and red, and a few hours later, she found herself at the edge of a little town.

Someone had a trough of more or less fresh water outside their house. The vali went to it, and Ju-Li got off of her and snuck herself a few handfuls to drink as well, even though the water wasn't the freshest. After that, they hesitantly went looking around.

They walked past the residential area, and found themselves in a town square, with several places of business. There was a general grocer, an animal supply store, the doctor's clinic, a tiny little run-down library with a broken window… And of course, the most important business to the whole community, the largest and most well-kept of them all, the local saloon. In fact there were two saloons in this town, and the one Ju-Li was approaching was known to be the much rowdier and seedier one…

Such things didn't interest Ju-Li, of course, but there was a poster outside of the saloon, next to the swinging front doors. A poster of a woman who looked nearly identical to her…  
She couldn't read the words, though she sort of recognized the letters and some numbers (a whole lot of zeroes, she noticed) and she could also only understand every fifth word she heard spoken. Still, she heard a man demand, "More food and drink, wench!" from the nearby bar, and though she didn't know what a 'wench' was, she understood 'food' and 'drink', and went inside after tearing down the poster to bring in with her.

Even if she hadn't thoughtlessly showed the poster to the first table of people she came across, a table of mostly men drinking and playing cards, with a couple of 'wenches' serving them, it wouldn't have mattered, the outcome would have been the same. They all stopped dead when she came up to them. One of the 'wenches' even began overfilling a shot of whiskey, spilling the liquid onto the men's fallen cards. None of them even cared about it either.

Instead they were all eerily silent, shocked, waiting to see what she'd do first. Put on the spot, Ju-Li hesitantly began to motion to the poster, and try to speak in her broken and long forgotten understanding of their language, "Look, find, her? You know, where girl? Where find—"

Suddenly, so sudden she couldn't hope to try to dodge it, and with the vali not near enough to save her this time, one of the men picked up their mostly empty beer bottle by the neck and swung it at her head. It connected solid, somehow not breaking, and sending her spinning. She felt immense pain in her head, and droplets of cold beer and backwash, and then she hit the floor. A warm trickle of blood ran down her temple, getting into her eye. Immediately she could feel several people pinning her down, grabbing her arms so she couldn't move. The weight was horrible, she couldn't breathe, and between that and the throbbing blow, her swimming vision with the creeping blackness finally overtook her, and for just a little while, she felt no more of it, no more of the weight of her destiny literally crushing her...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(( Poor Ju-Li! Not a great start for this gal, but hopefully things will look up soon... ))


	3. Fruitless Battles and Irrepressible Bastards

A pure white stallion… Dusty had seen a lot of things in his life, the strange and the simple. But until not long ago, he'd never actually seen a pure white stallion in person before…

He had, however, spent the better part of the last fifteen years of his life hearing all about them, almost every single day. That, and unicorns, of course…

Teresa, the oldest daughter of his adoptive father's friend and neighbor, had been talking his ear off about them since she was a little girl. She was the sweetest girl alive, she believed in fairytales (or at least very earnestly pretended to, when she recited the stories to Sandy and her little sisters) as if they were gospel until the age of fifteen, and still worked them into her life after her father started making her work at the bar then after, until his death when she was seventeen. Only then did she stop speaking of them so earnestly, except to her sisters before their bedtimes at night, and to Dusty on their dates. The notion of a prince or a knight riding in on a white horse to sweep her off her feet was the height of romanticism in her heart and mind. But when the first prince to ever protect her, her dear father, passed on, she couldn't bear to bring it up again for a while.

Indeed, she hadn't brought up any of the fairytales or the notions from them in a long time - Ever since her mother had also died the year before, just a year after her husband. He supposed she'd been too busy, now at nineteen almost single-handedly running the bar her folks left behind to keep her little sisters in school, to read her old fairytale romances anymore…

That, and the fact that he knew he'd never be able to afford a proper wedding ring for her (at least without abandoning the thought of a house to live in too) had left him with no doubt about what he had to do now…

He was going to ride that pure white stallion. He was going to ride up to her on that pure white stallion, sweep her up off her feet, and ride away with her into the sunset. He had no idea how far into the sunset they'd ride before they had to go back, but he was going to give her that experience. She had always been his dream come true, and then she told him, a few weeks ago, that she didn't care about a ring, that she'd marry him anyways. So he was determined to make her dream come true, too. He needed to do SOMETHING for her, and well, a horse –would- sure be a lot more useful than a ring!

…But first he had to get that damned animal to stop throwing him to the ground!

It was a wild horse, they'd found it roaming through the nearby mountains several weeks back. An honest to god wild horse, with no sign of a saddle and with all the attitude of an unbroken animal, and yet somehow, as if it had truly come right out of a fairytale, it was so clean, it couldn't be called anything else but immaculate. And it was white, all over! A white horse should have been dirty from head to hoof! But there wasn't a single blemish to be found anywhere on it, the beast woke up every morning looking perfectly groomed, as if someone had painstakingly brushed it in the night after everyone went to bed. It was the rarest, most perfect specimen Dusty had ever laid eyes on, and the men that had helped capture him all agreed – They had never seen anyone riding such a perfect horse, except for their Kings, Princes and other Nobles.

So naturally, it was first assumed that the animal must have belonged to a nobleman, and Dusty's adoptive father, Earl, kept the creature on his ranch while they sent word to the city to ask around if any noblemen had lost a white stallion. It seemed, however, that no one had lost any, and furthermore the few that tried to pretend they had and tried to claim the horse anyways came to realize that it was so wild, there was no point in trying to take it, it would likely just injure, if not kill, the rider.

Therefore, it was decided that whoever could manage to tame the impossible thing would be the one to keep it. And Dusty had decided, damn it all, the person to do that was gonna be him! No matter how long it took! He was gonna tame that horse, for Teresa!

…The problem was, the damn thing seemed to just absolutely get his kicks off of humiliating him! It never really tried to seriously injure him – There had been plenty of pretty horses that had come to the ranch in the past, which turned out to be too dangerous to tame, and had ended up being more useful to the settlers as meat and glue.

But this horse… He would throw you off his back without a second thought, and then he would shake his big long head and whinny hysterically, in a way that made it sound very much as if he were laughing at the spectacle he had caused. He would sometimes even rear up after he'd thrown you and make the motions of being about to trample you, but then he'd stop, and saunter away, looking pleased at the fear in your eyes.

The men started to realize a game could be made of it, as long as they didn't provoke the horse too much. They all seemed to give the pretty thing a respect that it demanded. Those who didn't were taught a swift and painful lesson. But Dusty never needed anything but pushes and nudges, he was never at the end of a swift kick like some disrespectful ranch dudes. Even if the horse wouldn't submit to him yet, he liked to think they had a sort of understanding…

Dusty would think to himself after such encounters, "Yer an asshole, you know that… But damn if you ain't a smart one..."

He was convinced a horse as smart as that could be broken in soon enough, so he refused to let up. Every morning he woke up bright and early, earlier than usual, so he could practice riding before he had to get to his work.

And every morning, Earl would arrive, thermos of coffee in hand, shaking his head in disbelief. "Dustin, you know you look like a damn fool, right…?"

Patting the dirt off his bottom, Dusty shrugged. "All due respect, sir, but… I don't mind looking like a fool to you now, if it means Teresa looks at me like a knight in shining armor later."

Earl sighed, pouring some thick brown liquid into the top half of his thermos. "Yep. Unless it tramples you to death first. Then Teresa will be looking at your coffin being lowered into the ground."

"He won't do that." Dustin stated seriously. "He's smarter than that. I'm telling you he's one smart horse! When I look into his eyes, I can just see how intelligent he is deep down…"

Earl didn't hide how he rolled his eyes at that, sipping his sludge before groaning out, "It's an animal, Dusty... You are assigning human intelligence to an animal. You already look like a fool – Don't go letting people think you're a crazy, too. Now come on, let's get to work. We got Team Two on the crops today, so we're gonna go work on that new house for the Jackson's. Work hard on a few more of these projects, and who knows, you might be building your own house soon enough…"

Dusty nodded, and got to following him to the job site, and then straight to work, no dilly-dallying. Earl was tough, but he was practical. And he was usually right. Maybe not always, but enough that he took his word for most things, so he usually just listened right away to avoid the muss and fuss... Not like Sandy, always asking why and 'how come' to everything, no sir. Not him. Boss man says stop daydreaming and get to work? Yes sir! He had to work hard, to make sure Teresa could get back to her beautiful daydreaming someday too. A girl that pretty and pure didn't deserve to sit behind a bar all day, warding off drunks and pervs… He was gonna be her knight on a pure white steed someday, and until that dream came true, he was gonna work just as hard as a horse! Hell yeah to that!

…Dusty sometimes cursed just to sound tough, like the other guys. Of course certain curse words were still much too improper, but words like 'hell' and 'damn', those were cool, manly curse words, biblical curse words. Men-folk liked to hear other men-folk throw a strong, biblical curse around once in a while, as long as it wasn't in church. The men would give you hell if you acted too much like a sissy and talked like you did in church all the time though, and they already gave him hell for doing the 'woman's work' that his sister was so bad at, so he felt like he needed to throw in a curse word here and there when around them.

He would always speak calmly and sweetly and properly with his sweetheart and her sisters, and his. Well, mostly he would speak that way to Sandy too. He used to, anyways… But she was just such a pain in the butt nowadays! Always acting contrary about everything, and trying to act like a tomboy even though she ought to know she had no place to…

Sandy could clean just fine, but try to get her to do anything feminine or creative, trying to get her to actually make something, seemed to just be a recipe for disaster. She could barely boil water or butter bread, never could she emulate the scrumptious and complex dishes Earl's wife Shannon could make, or even the simple but hearty recipes Teresa got from her mother. Hell, if he, a man, could whip up something tasty, she should be able to as well, right? Nope! And lord, try to get Sandy to sew and she might just poke out her own eye with the needle! She couldn't even darn a sock straight, let alone make a pair of trousers! But then, Teresa wasn't especially good at sewing either, and he sewed her little sister's new dresses for her without complaint…

But Sandy would even complain about having to WEAR dresses sometimes! She couldn't even sew a boy a pair of trousers but she wanted to wear them!

She couldn't even really entertain a guest, for goodness sake... She could carry a good enough tune with her voice, but she was always bored with the church hymns Earl and his neighbors preferred, never really giving it her all, and she couldn't play any instruments. People never seemed impressed by her when they came to visit, even though she could sing and dance really lovely when by herself, she never wanted to do it for others the way she truly could.

So, people knew about her, too… It's not like they kept her locked up day and night, despite being a bit of a disappointment and an embarrassment. Earl and his wife took her with the family to church on Sundays, and sometimes to the store with them, some days…

But they taught her privately at home, and for the most part they told her she had to stay at home, and either had someone to watch her, or left her with children she needed to watch. She often complained that she wanted to go outside more, but she knew it was dangerous. She would make them remind her of it anyways, but she knew. She wasn't stupid. She knew by now, even if she had been ignorant of it as a child, that she was… Rare. Uncommon. She looked different from all the other women in these parts, possibly in the whole world, and for some, maybe even most men, that meant irresistible, or at the very least, tempting…

Tempting… Of something she wanted absolutely no part of.

So, she had to stay inside… Dusty felt bad for her sometimes, but she had to stay inside until they could find a trustworthy and upstanding man to marry her… But then, with her less than abundant womanly virtues, and the less than abundant virtuous men, that was probably going to be even more difficult than getting that stubborn-ass horse to let someone ride it…

At least Sandy wasn't a spinster yet, she still had her looks. But not for long if she kept acting like a child, when she was supposed to be an adult now. Maybe just barely, but she had to start sometime…

She wanted so bad to do all kind of crazy things, probably because of all those books she read. They got her as many books as they could get their hands on to keep her occupied at home, as many as the library had to sell. She had TEN whole books in her personal library. That was like, twice as many books as most girls had. She was really quite lucky if she just stopped to think about it.

So she had to just get over it, stop being so spoiled and understand, that everyone had to do stuff in life that they might not want to! He had to go break his back with the men-folk, Teresa had to run her ma and pa's bar instead of daydreaming about her childhood fairytales, and Sandy had to quit dreaming too and find someone that could take care of her!

Because… As guilty as it made him feel to admit it, even just to himself, Dusty knew he couldn't do it for her forever. He'd let the guilt of his old promise to Dani lead his life for a while, constantly protecting Sandy against all the people who judged her, and from her own fumbling. But it was hard, a lot harder than he initially thought it would be as a know-nothing kid, still too little to know what it was like to really face the world, and have the world fight back with all its power. Back then he had someone to stick up for him, because he was just a child. But once he started having to fight his own battles, he quickly found himself losing most of them. Painfully. And it didn't just hurt his body or his pride. It hurt his reputation, which was worst of all and hardest to mend. He didn't want to have to constantly look after her any more, and, well… He didn't want Sandy moving in with him and Teresa. Yes, it was selfish, but they already had Teresa's little sisters to think of. They needed help more than Sandy. They were all still little girls, after all.

Plus, Sandy was all grown – And she'd grown big and tall, just as tall as Dusty, which embarrassed him a bit at times, even though he wasn't short for a male, she was simply tall for girl… Point being, she wasn't just big and tall, she was strong – She wasn't an invalid by any means, she was just really clumsy and awkward. She just needed to settle down like Dusty had, find a guy and move into his house and start her own family, and probably then she'd pick the rest up on her own by trial and error…

Every time he had tried to get that through to her, she had insisted she didn't want to do that. But as Earl's wife had already said to her before, what else did she expect to do?  
Everyone had a place, a routine. She needed to find hers so he could get on with his…

Speaking of which, he needed to stop thinking about his dumb sister and get back to focusing on the work at hand... Well, that's what he told himself anyways, but in truth he could do the work and daydream at the same time, he just needed a more interesting and less irritating distraction… Like the fact that everyone in town had been extra busy that week, preparing for a very special visit from a nobleman, a dignitary from the king, the last remaining king now…

The last remaining one because of her, the infamous assassin… But dealing with the demonic rogue known as the Lone Pearl Cowgirl, aka the Kingslayer, was left to men who thought of themselves as legends. Dusty didn't want to be a legend. He just wanted a wife and a house and a horse and maybe a pen of chicken-lizards, not to die in vain trying to collect an almost unfathomable bounty on a woman who apparently couldn't be killed. Sure, there was next to no hope in winning the lottery, but that was better than the hope of getting tangled with either the Kingslayer, or her intended victims, which so far included, as her wanted sign reminded everyone from every bar, everywhere: King Jeremy, King William and his son and successor Prince William, King Patrick, and King Magnus. It also included the majority of at least two of the last king's personal armies, for although the first two assassinations had apparently been much more secretive "inside job" types of operations, the last two had been all out wars fought with entire armies. And of course, all of the independent assassins that had attempted to do her in were also done away with in kind...

One woman… One woman had killed all those powerful men, gotten past their guard and slain them, and amassed her own personal army while evading death at every turn. Just one little woman, reportedly barely taller than average height, she was not even extra tall like Sandy. They said she was like a demon in battle, ruthless, and that she owned a hulking alien steed that sometimes ATE people, dear GOD how had she DONE it...?

'Nope, nope, stop Dusty, just stop…' He had to focus on his work, and this dignitary, who was here to determine how well the town had been doing and how many seeds and fresh water tanks it was worthy of being allowed. Seeds were rare at the seed bank lately, and fresh water was always rare, so they were only given in certain quantities. Less water and seeds for lands that don't produce as much, naturally…

So they had to make an impression, and get the place spic and span and mended, and a tribute made, of course.

The tribute was to be all the fruit from the new orchard they had been gifted a few years prior. All the best and most attractive fruits were set aside for his majesty, and the imperfect fruits kept for the people, as was always the way…

It was a little tiring, and admittedly sometimes it did seem unfair, as Sandy often claimed at home. But that was how it was, how it had always been. The noble class descended from those who, in their wisdom, had built the ship that brought them to this planet, saving them from the dying ruins of their last world, and who graciously allowed others to board the ship, in return for their pledge to work, and to instill in their children the drive to work towards their future as well.

Besides, there was always the Five Year Lottery, where as the name suggested, every five years someone from the lower class was chosen by lottery and actually allowed to join the noble class, and given an incredible allowance to spend as they saw fit. It was always enough to provide not just for all their wants and needs for life, but for entire generations of future children and their communities.

So perhaps if Dusty played his cards right, he could get the town some extra seeds and maybe even a few extra entries into the lottery, too…

Someone in a town not too far away had won the lottery last time, and he turned his almost dying community into a full blooming town in a matter of months. Another couple of years later, it was practically considered a little city. It was like turning a dry barren desert into an oasis. Money and the resources that came with it had that power, if only you could grasp more than a handful at a time.

But people like Dusty, and nearly all the people he had ever met or seen in life, except for a few times when a nobleman rode through for a rare appearance, were considered more or less servant class. The nobles had nicer words for it, the "Builders", the "Helpers", but it meant the same thing.

The rulers also had their own class. There were the miniature rulers, the Lords and Ladies and Nobles. A step above them were the Princes and the Princesses, specially ranked royals that were considered the honorary sons and daughters of and just under in rank of the Kings. Princes and Princesses were mostly also the biological children of Kings, but only one child was ever actually officially acknowledged as the biological son. The favorite, the heir. The Prince who would become King.

There were only Kings. There were no Queens. Men who knew their history, and wanted to rewrite it for their own selfish purposes, had banished that word from their language entirely, even so far as to rename the Queen Bee the King Bee. Wives of Kings were not Queens. They were also Princesses, also honorary daughters.

None the wiser of that, Dusty had always kinda wondered what would happen if a King just couldn't stop making daughters, like Teresa's dad had. But that seemed to not be a problem, for the Kings were blessed in all ways, why would one ever have a problem with that or anything else in life…

Well… Suppose until now. There had been four generations of Kings reborn into the glorious Empire of the Settlers, as those fancy-talking Nobles would say. And there hadn't been a problem for any of them until the demon-woman showed up. Man, there he went again, thinking about that witch when he was trying to work...

But it was hard not to. Even if people discouraged talking about her, they were all unable to stop thinking about her. She had just about turned everything on its head, after all. And she had only one more King to go. It seemed like everyone was simultaneously and constantly trying to forget she existed, trying to capture her, or just wondering with utmost curiosity – Would she succeed?

And, if she did, what would they do then…?

Well, she hadn't yet, and their final King assured everyone she would not, although the threat of her coming back and cutting off any heads that dared to pop up like a weed, ensured that no Princes were stepping up to take over for their fallen fathers until the last King finally got rid of her.

A King whose father originally named him Magnus, after himself, but apparently a name meaning "great" wasn't good enough for him. He took the throne recently after his own father's assassination, the only prince to do so because he had been very well hidden and waiting to succeed his already dying father at any minute. He renamed himself King Titan, and proclaimed to be immortal… But then, like the Titans, whose myths the people didn't even remember, the Lone Pearl might not have killed him yet, but she had certainly caged him. If he wasn't immortal, people wouldn't know, because he never left his massively protected castle anymore…

Dusty finally finished the job. Today it had been flooring. It was humble work, always being so close to the ground. But Dusty liked it, he felt pride in setting a good strong foundation where a family would someday be raised. And well, there was no denying it, it fit his name.

This was the kind of life he wished he could always live. The life he assumed he would live. A simple life, but a life he could be proud of. Sure he could ask for more, but things could be a lot worse, too. Like his childhood... He never wanted things to ever get that bad again... So barren, always thirsty and shriveled up, near to death... Little things were a treasure for which he would gladly work hard, and never question authority for...

So he REALLY couldn't understand why Sandy insisted on wanting more, and questioning authority. Was it because she was so young when they left their former home? Did she not remember how truly bad it could get? She insisted that she remembered well enough when asked about it, but surely if she truly did, she wouldn't be acting so thoughtlessly…

It was driving him crazy lately, the constant stress repeating itself in his mind, worrying him into an early grave. He was still Sandy's protector, but for the better part of this year, he'd been becoming more and more distant from her. Less friendly. Hardly ever talking at all. When Sandy tried to get him to talk to her, he'd quickly find something else to do. Usually some clothes to mend or something like that, so he could complain about her not doing it until she'd give up and go away.

But today, she was not inclined to just let him bother her away. "Dusty, I NEED some news!" She begged him as soon as he got home and tried to go to his room, cutting him off at the door by sticking her big foot in. She looked him right in the eyes from the crack in the door. "I haven't been let out in over two weeks, PLEASE!"

Dusty merely glared at her as he opened the door again, tired and unsympathetic. "Sandy, nothing new has happened since the last news I gave you. The guys at the work site don't have any new rumors, and I am NOT going to ask them! They teased me the last time of trying to gossip like a woman! I already told you, I'll let you know if I overhear anything, but I'm not going out of my way! Especially since I know the news you really want to hear is about the Lone Pearl, and you know I don't approve of your fascination with that crazy woman in the first place! Why ARE you so obsessed with her? I hope yer not planning on trying to go join up with her crazy female brigade!"

"I am not! I ain't got a death wish!" Sandy immediately defended herself, but then quickly added, "I just wanna know what's going on! You never know, maybe I could help somehow..."

"You could help by learning how to do the duties expected of you." Dusty replied coldly. "Not daydreaming about impossible things all day!"

Heatedly contradicting him, Sandy stamped her foot. "Aside from you all keeping me locked up like a prisoner, what makes it so impossible?!"

Her brother wouldn't even look at her. Stubbornly, he could only shake his head while he ground out the answer between clenched teeth, resenting her for making him say it. "You ain't as strong as you think you are, Sandy..."

Helpless rage built up inside of her. There was nothing she could do but plead her case as best she could, but this damn stubborn man wasn't even listening. "Dusty, YOU don't know how strong I really am... You don't know what I can really do-"

She was almost about to tell him, too. She was almost about to let someone know, for the first time, that secret she'd kept locked up inside of her for several years... But then Dusty shouted over her, finally fed up and just wanting some damn peace, "Nobody WANTS you to do whatever it is you THINK can really do, Sandy! We NEED you to do what's best for the whole family, the whole community, and for YOURSELF! Why can't you just stop being selfish?! We can't take care of you forever!"

Sandy fell silent for a moment after his outburst. Dusty was usually at least a little kinder about how he said things like this. It was as if he truly had no real love left in his heart for her.

He was just about to push past her into his room, but Sandy caught his arm one last time. "...Why didn't you just leave me at the mesa."

Dusty stopped and stared down at her, "What?"

She glared at him as harshly as she could, even though her nerves were telling her this was the point where she ought to stop talking. "I said, why didn't you just leave me at the mesa? Why didn't you just hand me over to that bastard who wanted me then, if that's all you were ever going to do with me anyways? Hell, why don't you just kill me now, if I'm such a damn burden to you?!"

Finally Dusty had enough. Enough of her ridiculous accusations. "DAMN IT, Sandy, damn YOU! Can't you see that's what I'm trying to make sure DOESN'T happen to you?!"

"NO!" She shouted back at him, contrary as ever. "It sounds a lot like to me like you just want to be in control of which bastard I get handed over to! So what does that make YOU?!"

SLAP!

He was so mad at her, he could have sworn he slapped her before he even thought about it. But that wasn't true. It might have only been for a single second, before the sting of her words caused him to become angry enough to agree with the violent suggestion, but he definitely thought about it, and had immediately agreed with and carried out the decision.

Of course he also immediately regretted it, just by the look that his sister gave him in turn. Not just a look of betrayal, though that was the most prominent expression. But there was also deep, deep fury. A fury that he knew, if she decided to unleash it, would not leave him unscathed... In fact, was it his imagination, or did her indigo blue eyes suddenly turn much darker, like a plum-colored bruise...?

"Dusty! How... How could you?!"

Sandy was still staring wordlessly at him, still in shock and deciding what to do about what had just happened. So the voice who had just called out to him, in just as much shock and anguish, was someone else. And when Dusty turned his head and confirmed with his eyes what his ears already had, his heart dropped on the spot from shame. It was Teresa...

She was holding a heavy dish in her hands with oven mitts. Bless her good sweet heart, like she did every once in a while, she brought them dinner in the early afternoon, before the bar got its evening rush. Even though she only had her little sisters and a couple of her father's old friends to look after the place when she went to see him. Damn, of all days for her to be so thoughtful, why today...

But before he could further blame her in his mind for bad timing, she jumped right on him, speaking for Sandy, who was now rubbing her cheek in contemplation. "I never... In a hundred, no, a hundred -thousand- years woulda thought you were that kind of man, Dusty... To hit a woman! When she didn't lay a finger on you!"

Incredulous, Dusty weakly tried to defend himself, but fueled mostly by anger, he came off as petulant and childish. "So it's okay for her to say what she did about me?!"

Teresa didn't let him try that nonsense for a second. "NO! But you know damn well what you did was way worse!"

Sandy finally butted in there, "And I didn't say NOTHING about you just yet! I asked you if that made you a bastard - Well if that didn't, then this sure as hell did!"

Dusty glared at her, silently telling her to shut up, then quickly focusing on his fiancé once again. "Teresa, please-"

But she cut him off without any more sympathy than he was showing Sandy. "NO, Dusty! I... I just don't even want to look at you right now-!"

With that, she quickly turned on her heel and ran out of the house, taking the heavy dish with her, even though with her slightly shorter stature and large bust, it must have been quite hard to carry it all the way there, let alone run back with it. But she was just that mad at him, she didn't even want him to have any of her delicious meal after how he had behaved, and she wasn't about to give him an excuse to bring the dish back either.

Dusty tried to run after her, but she quickly climbed into the seat of her cart and slapped the donkey carrying it, retreating before he could catch up with her.

He would have run after her down the road too, but Earl suddenly appeared, pulling him back. "What's all this ruckus, Dusty? Yer sister already got confined to her room. Now... I reckon you ought to go spend some time alone in yers, too..."

Sensing that even Earl was disappointed in him, he muttered under his breath, considering it all very unfair. "That's what I wanted to do since I got home!"

But to his shock, Earl suddenly grabbed him by the arm, roughly. "Yeah? Well boy if that's what you really wanted to do, that's what you should have DONE. What, you think I don't wanna smack Sandy for half the crap she says? I know how you feel Dustin, but that ain't the way to deal with this kind of problem. Instead you done made twice the problem you already had to begin with! Now, just go to your room…"

Not wanting to stir Earl into a rare temper himself, Dusty finally obeyed and returned to his room, flopping down on his cot with a deep sigh, crossing his arms and not even taking off his shoes. He remained there for almost an hour, before his stomach started grumbling, and he decided, he wasn't going to be held in bad graces AND go hungry because of Sandy's rude mouth. He decided, to hell with it, he was going to sneak out and go see one of the guys from work for some quick grub...

Dusty didn't even have to do anything but go out his bedroom window. Sandy's window was locked with a padlock, but Dusty was on the "honor system", so he just opened it and slipped right out.

Unbeknownst to him, Sandy had already picked her lock with a hairpin and left half an hour before he had come to the decision to leave too. She knew very well how to do so, even though she was actually quite obedient and stayed home most of the time, she just needed to get out of the house once in a while for fresh air. In fact, she had only really left the property once before, years ago, and never again. Truthfully, Sandy was terrified of the world outside, just as they had always taught her to so rightfully be...

But she still longed for her freedom, even at the cost that would come, and well... She actually did feel just a little bit bad for the trouble between Dusty and Teresa, even if he had caused it himself. Still thinking of her brother's welfare, even when he hadn't done the same for her, she covered herself with a dark shawl, and headed down to Teresa's bar...

Dusty, in the meantime, went to the house of a man slightly older than him, named Hank. One with a beautiful wife, and two young sons. He often had his buddies come over, and his wife was really cool about it. So when Dusty showed up unannounced and explained the situation, Hank invited him in heartily, offering him a seat at the table, where his sons and two other men from work were already sitting and eating. His wife, Dusty assumed by her absence, was eating in the kitchen...

"You gotta be kidding." Hank deadpanned after hearing the story. "She said that to you? Right to your face?"

"I woulda slapped her too." The man next to him, a man with a gut, stated gruffly. Belly fat was rarer than not in this world, though by how he was piling in the food while he was there, barely pausing to make that short statement, it kind of explained it.

Hank nodded immediately. "Right? Absolutely. Me too. If nothing else but to knock some sense into her! A girl that looks like that can't be picky-choosy and draggin' her feet to the alter! She's lucky she's got a family to try and get her there, instead of being thrown into a whorehouse! But then, no offense Dusty - I don't know what yer pa was thinking in the first place, screwing around with one of those purple people eaters. If he hadn't done that, wouldn't be no problem to begin with! I mean yeesh, its one thing to bang one of the normal-looking natives, the brown ones ain't so bad, but the purple and blue ones? Only freaks go for those! How could you even fall asleep next to one, knowing she might bite yer nuts off?!"

Dusty of course wanted to correct him, but he had come to his house, and it was a common belief... He would usually try to correct people politely, but most often people would just talk over him, and insist that they knew the truth. Sometimes they would even get mad at him. So, it just wasn't worth it...

And yet, still... "I don't know. I was real young back then, I don't remember much, but... I remember that Sandy's mom was really beautiful, and always real nice to me. I really don't think she'd eat anybody..."

The other men looked at him in confusion, and more than a little disgust. "Beautiful?" Hank repeated. "I heard those purple women used to shave their heads bald, you think that's beautiful?"

Dusty blinked, a memory coming over him. "...Dani had hair, most of the time I knew her. It was really thin and brittle and pure white, she didn't like it... She tried to shave once and my dad beat her up for it..." He'd also threatened to cut her with the blade, and then, to make extra sure she took him seriously, he threatened to slit Sandy's throat too...

Hank slapped the table, jarring Dusty out of his memories. "Well, see! That's the problem! You've been too soft on her, Dust! So now she thinks she don't gotta listen to you! I know you just wanna pawn her off on some other guy, I'd have done so a long time ago, but you can't just not train a wild dog and then try to give it to someone as a pet, yanno?"

"..." Dusty suddenly got up, and looked down, avoiding their eyes. "Yeah, um... I actually think I know just what to say to my sister now. I'll be moving along..."

"Aye, man, don't waste food." Hank motioned to his almost untouched plate. "If ya ain't got an appetite for it now, at least let my ol' lady wrap it up for you to take home. Go on, she's in the kitchen, and then you can head out the back door. Good luck with the training!"

Dusty only nodded, and did as he was told, taking the plate with him and going to the kitchen, where Hank's wife Nelly was eating her supper in silence... Wincing with every slow bite, because she had a split lip...

She looked up at him, hope and desperation in her eyes. "Oh... Were you not gonna eat that...?"

...She was real skinny. And he had always thought she was real pretty because of the way she was so skinny too, when he'd seen her before... But, he supposed he never considered how being so skinny felt...

There wasn't much on her plate, and nothing left on the counter... Even though Hank had taken more than plenty for himself and his buddies...

He shook his head, twice. "...No, I'm actually not too hungry right now, not anymore... But it'd be a shame to waste it. Do you want it, Nelly?"

She quickly nodded, but then added in a whisper as she gratefully took the plate from him, "Please don't tell Hank, though... He worries about me gaining too much weight..."

Dusty simply nodded back, then rushed to escape from the awkward sense of shame he felt, out the back door. Obedient as ever...

Even after seeing and hearing all that, Dusty was still making excuses, for them and for himself. 'Sometimes you gotta work with bastards like that, you just gotta keep your lip shut and just work with them...' Sure, sometimes it was appropriate to knock a guy's lights out too, like Earl had done to that baby-sniffing dog Jim, years ago, whom nobody had seen since...

...But Hank was sure a hell of a lot bigger than Jim, and Dusty was a good deal smaller than Earl... Best to just mind his own business, and not go over there for dinner any more...  
When he finally made it home, he came back in through the window he'd stolen out of, then went over to Sandy's room, opening it with the key left outside on a ring on the wall, that was available to anyone but Sandy. He opened the door...

Then quickly and quietly closed it... Sandy's room was small, with nowhere to hide. Her window alone was a luxury she had begged for, and only gotten because she proved she would not stray when unaccompanied by someone else in the house... She knew someone checked on her at least every two or three hours, usually... So wherever she had gone, she would be back soon, if she didn't want to get caught. Unless she didn't care about being caught, if she was trying to run away... Dusty suddenly choked up wondering if that really was even a possibility. Would she really do that, because of what he had done...?

...He decided. He would hide and wait outside for about an hour. If Sandy came back by then, he'd greet her on the road, tell her he was sorry for hitting her, offer to get her back into her room without being caught, and not tell Earl she had left. Because he got it. He had been out of line, and she just really needed to get out and get some fresh air, probably...

Of course, if she -didn't- come back in more than an hour, well... Dusty really hoped that wasn't the case. Because if it was, then he'd have to get Earl for help finding her, and if he had to do that, he knew Sandy would get a lot worse from Earl. He was usually just the 'normal' amount of strict with Sandy, he was more good to her than not, but not when she broke the number one rule... No leaving on your own. Earl was a just man, though. He only did it for her own good, to keep her safe. Dusty hadn't had a good reason like that, he just hit her out of anger and frustration...

Hank was probably right, in at least one way... He was probably never going to find a husband for a girl like Sandy - Not one that would treat her well enough, not with all her many faults. Most guys were tougher and meaner than Dusty. He was a wimp, a pushover. He didn't like admitting it, but to pass the time while he waited, hiding in a tree he climbed so he could see the road for some distance, instead of contemplating the possibility that Sandy had in fact run away and him sitting on his ass trying to be nice to her ungrateful self was just giving her time to get further away, he instead finally considered the possibility that he might actually be wrong about some other things too.

For example, it probably didn't look too good to his beloved Teresa, as full of love and idealism as she was, him trying so hard to kick Sandy, his only kin, out of the nest, when she had several little sisters. He of course would never do anything like that to them, even if they all were already capable little helpers in all things domestic and creative, unlike Sandy...

But to someone as angelic as Teresa, whose head was always in Fairy-tale Land, where things were always Fair above all else and so unlike reality, she believed in her pure and beautiful heart that Sandy deserved to find True Love as much as she did, and anyone else. There would be no explaining to Teresa why a girl like Sandy would have a much harder time finding "True Love", if such a thing really existed for her...

After all, sure, Dusty was pretty dang sure Teresa was his True Love, he sure as heck loved her more than anyone else in the world and would do anything to make her happy and anything to fix something he'd done wrong in her eyes... But what the heck even was "true love"? Everybody married for some kind of practical reason or another, nobody ever had truly altruistic reasons for something like that. Nobody except Teresa, the one pure angel left on this world of devils. But if Teresa hadn't gone out of her way to flirt with Dusty and let him know she liked him, he would have never worked up the courage on his own to ask her to be his girl. He loved her to the moon and back, both of them! He loved her so much, but he had to wonder...

Well, with how he'd already always been like before, and especially after how she'd seen him act today... Even Fairy-tale Princess Teresa had to finally be wondering what Dusty had been wondering all along...

Did he really deserve her...?

He just hoped she wasn't at least thinking what Sandy clearly thought of him. But he couldn't really blame her if she did, because he was finally starting to feel that way himself.

"...Maybe I really am a bastard..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Run, and hide. Run and hide. Normal people could just run or walk or ride a horse or a wagon when going about their way, but for Sandy, it was always a sequence of running, and hiding. And most of the running was on tougher terrain. Someone who was kept inside as much as her would probably would have a tougher time of it usually, but she felt so overwhelmingly free in this rare moment, as if nothing could stop her-!

But then, she'd felt that way the first time she tried going for a lengthy walk, years ago... Until she learned the reason why she had to hide...

Hide again, behind that large rock. Stay hiding, a man on horseback is coming in the distance... Now run. Run like you have horse legs, or wings. Run like you're flying, fast as you can. Because if someone ever chases you, you gotta be faster than them...

Finally, after ducking behind a few more boulders and a couple dozen cacti, she managed to sneak into the nearby town square. Then she began hiding behind barrels, and right behind the butt of few horses and other large livestock - One cow, and a few domesticated near-hairless buffalo-goat, a creature called Nunu by the natives who first domesticated them, and renamed Nunz by the settlers, who made a game of naming their bison-goats after strict nuns they didn't like.

The priests and the women under their keep who lived in sometimes literal ivory towers in the cities on the rich, lush coastline, which kept the nobility and the lucky few who could serve directly under them, were all so far removed from their lifestyle that most of them had probably never even seen that kind of beast, let alone forced to drink it's sour-smelling milk, which it made abundantly. Poor settlers were forced to learn to like it, because few people of their class could afford to buy a sweet-milk cow from a nobleman's herd. Usually one had a better chance of gifting a beautiful son or daughter into their service, and then, if the tribute was accepted and pleased the lord well enough, the favor would be returned to the family in due time...

Pinching her nose behind one particularly large 'Buffagoat', as they were also sometimes called on the rare occasions when there WAS a priest or nun around (usually visiting for one of their pompous little holier-than-thou parades) who could hear the blasphemous little secret, Sandy suddenly recalled a memory, of a visit from Earl's father before he died, where he had suggested that they might try gifting her to a noble. Maybe they might get lucky and get something rare for her, since she was so rare herself...

Dusty had immediately protested... But he hadn't said, "No, we'd never do that to her!" It was, "No, we couldn't risk something like that! What if the nobleman thought she was ugly, and got offended? For all we know they might just hang or behead us all for it, if they got offended enough!"

She had a mirror in her room. She liked how she looked. But she didn't really blame anyone if they really thought she was ugly. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder, after all. The part she really didn't get, was why the color of her skin meant she was ugly, and why the color of her skin and her so-called ugliness, meant that she always had to be something to be given away or given to, or even gotten rid of, and never someone who got to choose or get or give...

Choose to go somewhere, do something, be someone, or even choose someone else to be with... Why was that so much for her to ask for...

...Still. She wasn't about to go ruining a good thing for someone else, just because she resented not having what they did. And so finally, unseen by anyone, because it was still early and hot enough that most people were either napping after work or otherwise just resting inside, Sandy ducked into Teresa's saloon, where only one early patron sat with his back to her at the bar. Motioning silently for her to follow, Sandy then ran and hid upstairs, where Teresa and her sisters lived.

In most establishments like this there would probably be a few more -older- girls working up there too, but it was well-known, at least by the locals, that Teresa's bar was NOT 'that kind of bar'. That's why this town had another saloon, for the men who wanted that kind of thing. You could still curse and fight all you wanted to downstairs, but nobody takes a foot upstairs. It was like that when her father was in charge too, and all the locals respected it, so Teresa didn't lose too much business because of it after his passing. But sometimes a yahoo from out of town would get drunk and test his limits. That's when Teresa's bodyguards Roy and Li would let them know who was boss around there when push came to shove.

So, sensing it was important, Teresa left the gentlemen in charge, and followed Sandy up the stairs, and into her room. Immediately the short young woman began worrying over the much taller youth. "Sandy, what in the name of all creation are you doing here, alone? You know what could-!"

"Yes, I know, I know." Sandy sighed, cutting her off. "Trust me, I've been reminding myself of that the entire time I came here. But I had to come, because I had to talk to you. About what you saw just now, and about Dusty..."

An uncomfortable silence hung over them for a moment, before Teresa finally replied, her throat quickly becoming thick and her eyes tearing up. "I never woulda thought Dusty would do something like that... I never woulda thought he was even capable-!"

Sandy hung her head, ashamed for her brother in his place, and well... Just a little bit in herself, too. "Dusty had no right to hit me, none at all... But what I said was real hurtful… Dusty ain't that kind of man. He's trying to protect me from that kind of man. I mean, I guess if I'm honest, if someone said something like that to me, I'd probably slap them too..."  
"Bull." Teresa called her out on the spot. "People have been saying much worse than that to you your whole dang life, and you've never hit nobody!"

Well, she did have a point, kind of... But Sandy still kept her head hung low. More than anyone, naive and kind-hearted Teresa would never believe she was capable of the kind of things she'd done before... "I understand how you feel, Teresa. I really do. I'm definitely mad at him too, but... He's never hit me before. He still shouldn't have done it then, but I know he wouldn't have if I hadn't said what I did. It hurt him real deep… And I don't want you to suffer because of any of this, because I know Dusty has never been anything but the best kind of man to you. I know he loves you and he's gonna do his best to take good care of you. He'd never hurt you... I'm sure he'll eventually tell me he's sorry. And if he does, I'll forgive him. So, won't you...?"

There was a long pause. Finally Teresa huffed, and pointed a finger at her accusingly. "Only if he means it! He better really mean it! Don't you let him make no excuses for it! If he says sorry like he REALLY means it, then I'll forgive him! AFTER I give him a good talking to, myself! And you tell him, you tell him –I- SAID, that if he ever does it again, I will leave him and NEVER come back!"

Sandy smiled, relieved for her. For both of them. Dusty wasn't perfect, far from it. But he loved Teresa with all his heart. He'd not only never hurt her, he'd fight for her. With all the vigor and passion he used to have for protecting Sandy... And Teresa, she at least could keep Dusty in line, the way Sandy could not…

Those two truly deserved each other… And Sandy was about to tell her that too, except then, from downstairs, came a loud and shocking - BAM!

The two women gasped deeply at the sound of the saloon doors downstairs being slammed open so forcefully that they hit the wall. Teresa was already out of her bedroom in an instant, about to reprimand whoever the offending party was. But to their shock, it was not a careless male patron who had done it, but another woman. It was Bonnie, a servant-girl who worked for the family of the mayor of their town.

She was scared. Panicked. She rushed towards them without stopping for any formality, pushed them back into Teresa's room. Only after closing the door did she begin to explain, "Oh my god, Teresa! And y-you, oh my god, what are YOU doing here?!" She added incredulously to Sandy. "Oh my god, this is bad-You all have to HIDE. Sandy, go home right NOW and HIDE, and Teresa, you go hide your little sisters wherever your best hiding place is! Let them ransack the place and just pray they don't find you! MEN are coming, BAD men, they SHOT THE MAYOR-!"

Fear soon gripped the other girls as Bonnie broke down into a fit, but Teresa had to at least know what the hell was going on, and she demanded as much of the terrified maid, "W-What are you talking about? Bandits? Didn't the mayor have enough protection-?!"

Bonnie sobbed back, unable to stop with the prospect of impending doom looming over her. "Teresa, it ain't just bandits, it's... It's GREED! Earnest goddamn GREED, I swear to god, Teresa, it's him and he shot the mayor because he had a secret loan he didn't pay on! Now Greed is here to take EVERYTHING! We all gotta HIDE!"

No way. The fear creeping upon Sandy and Teresa like spiders on their skin was now more like a unimaginably heavy piece of black lead, dropped into the pit of their stomachs. Immediately Teresa shoved Sandy, "GO! Get Dusty! HURRY! He has to come here now and pretend to be my husband! I'm not gonna let them tear my family home and business apart! I'll serve the bastards all the booze we got, but I need Dusty to come pretend we're married! It's my only hope, please Sandy, HURRY!"

She didn't even pause to nod, Sandy literally flew from the room, almost even flying down the stairs, jumping from the middle of the stairs instead of bothering to ascend the final five steps. She ran like prey from the predator, out the door and past any of the few onlookers that were now out and about without care. Somewhere in the distance behind her, some kind of ruckus was going on, but Sandy didn't dare even look back.

She ran the entire way home, this time using the path to make speed. By the time she was drawing near to home, her lungs with heaving with pain from the effort and the distance covered. Even with the exertion about to make her buckle, she wasn't about to slow down, except suddenly her brother popped out in front of her on the trail, causing her to need to stop on the spot.

Her feet slid and she almost knocked into him, but managed to stop at the last minute. "DUSTY!" She shouted, but that used the last of her breath, and she finally had to stop to gasp a few times before she could push herself any further.

"Sandy?!" Dusty returned in shock. "What the HELL are you doing-?!"

"HUSH!" Sandy interrupted him once she finally had the breath, and further demanding, "LISTEN! I went to check on Teresa! But then Bonnie comes in and tells us bandits just shot the Mayor! And not just any bandit, she says it's GREED! The King of Bandits!"

She wouldn't normally use such a pompous title, but she had to make sure Dusty knew just who the actual hell she was talking about. Not greed as in the sin, but Greed, the sinner. The most notorious of them all, except for the Lone Pearl. Though she would admit to no one but herself, Sandy had fantasized of some daring adventure occurring in their backwater town for a long time, especially one with the Kingslayer. But never would she have ever wished for a visit like this, and never would have anyone ever expected it. Greed usually had expensive tastes. The mayor must have really messed up and offended him big time.

"No way." Dusty predictably denied, "How-?"

"WHO CARES!" Sandy shouted, waving her hand in the air aggressively, as if swatting his questions aside like flies. "There's no time to wonder, you gotta go into town and protect Teresa, now! You gotta go pretend yer her husband! If they think she's unmarried, those bandits are gonna snatch her away!"

Dusty knew she was right, he knew what he had to do... But he was terrified. He could pretend all he wanted, but there was no guarantee men like these wouldn't shoot him in cold blood. He wasn't going to leave Teresa of course... But, a shotgun, it would be best to go back inside first and get the shotgun. The pistol at his hip wasn't about to impress anyone, after all. But how to phrase that in a way that didn't make him sound like a total coward...

"A-Alright... Let's just get you back inside..." Dusty began, full of fear and uncertainty. "Once yer safe in yer room, then I can-"

Sandy's eyes had gone wide with shock, and she cut him off on the spot, "DAMN IT, DUSTY! You don't got TIME for this! TERESA needs you, NOT ME! I can get through a window just fine on my own! Those men are probably already ransacking her bar right now while you're sitting here worrying about me! Now GO, NOW!"

Pointing decisively down the path, Sandy glared hard at her brother, almost suggesting with that hard stare that if he didn't hurry up and go, that she might just return that slap from earlier, with interest, hopefully to knock some sense into him. Feeling anxious and guilty himself, Dusty felt compelled to nod in agreement. And yet still, with everything on the line, he almost hesitated. Almost, until the shrill cry of a horse got his attention. Turning his head, he almost fell back in shock as he realized that the pure white stallion, the one who always tormented him so, had somehow managed to pull off an incredibly high jump, hurdling over the wooden fence that normally had no problem keeping him in. Then to Dusty's shock, he charged right at him. But just as he felt for sure that he was about to get trampled, the horse reigned up, and then fell back down, snorting right in Dusty's face, whinnying and nudging him hard with his nose, then outright pushing and shoving him with his entire head.

And for some weird reason, Dusty got the sudden idea into his head that the horse really wanted to help him this time... Well no, not exactly. The horse really wanted to help Teresa. The only thing he wanted from Dusty at the moment was for him to hurry the hell up and get the hell on...

And strangely, he felt especially encouraged by the animal's behavior. If Sandy or anyone else had been doing the same thing, it would have just made him more nervous. It was as if the horse was telling him, not with spoken words, but a message sent straight to his heart, "You can do this. You MUST do this!"

The doubt in his gut was also muted, and working on instinct alone, Dusty grabbed onto the ivory mane and climbed up onto the horse's back, not bothering to go get a saddle or anything else. And immediately, without waiting for any instructions from Dusty, the horse began to run down the path at top speed. He had to grab on tight to the mane to stay on, but the horse wasn't trying to oppose or betray him in any way. It was running very fast, but very evenly, clearly trying to keep the young man on as best he could, this time.  
It was only a matter of minutes before the incredibly fast creature got him to town. Even still, it was just a couple minutes too late. Ahead of him several men were riding away, with several sacks distorted with bottles of booze - The bar's entire supply. And that would have been just fine, if they had left Teresa behind with her empty bar. But he could hear her struggling, demanding her freedom, tied up and slung over the horse in the front of the bandit's procession...

His horse started to give chase for them before he even said anything, and he should have not said anything, either. Instead he made the great and stupid mistake of calling out in indignation at the bandits, "HEY!"

As soon as the thugs heard this noise, they slapped their horse's hind ends and began to speed off, towards the mayor's mansion, across the other side of town. Also across the other side of town, rising over the mayor's mansion from behind it, and currently dropping explosives onto it, was a gigantic metal monstrosity, great and blackish-grey like a storm cloud and yet shining enough to almost be as reflective as a mirror. The shape of the craft was most similar to a large ship meant for a river or an ocean, with two great spinning wheels on each side that utilized the gusts of wind beneath it and generated more to fly, making it quite clean and not very noisy.

Then of course there were the several dozen cannons on the sides, and a massive super-cannon for heavy fire at the front end. Such a ship would normally also contain a sizable living quarter for the owner of the ship and its crew, at least if it were a standard military ship. But since the man Earnest Greed had stolen the ship from was a lesser Prince, it was practically a palace, complete with a tower of suites in the middle that rose above the rest, and a large balcony at the top of said tower from which the owner of the ship could see for miles.

Originally it bore the banner of its prince, but Greed had since replaced it with one of his own crafting. Hanging from the middle of the tower was a green cloth with a gigantic golden disc, emblazoned with the image of a distinguished and royal-looking woman, with a crown on her head made of castles, and a blindfold around her eyes. A medallion of the sun settled on her bosom, and a horn of plenty spilled over with coins in her arms. Around the woman's image bore her name, the new name of Earnest Greed's infamous stolen flying warship: Donna Fortuna. The Lady Luck…

It really was him...

Earnest Greed, the Gambler of Gungrave. The only bastard Saloon City and Brothel Bastion was always happy to claim. He was infamous, but there was no denying, he was a legend. He was known for being incredibly lucky and charismatic, which had attracted him his own personal army.

And that was what Dusty would have to go up against now, if he ever wanted to see Teresa again…

With only the snap of his finger, a ramp opened up at the bottom of the flying craft, allowing the bandits to board without anyone needing to stop. Before he could catch up with it, let alone save anyone, the ship was already sailing away...

"NO, DAMN IT!" Dusty shouted, and he didn't even need to spur the horse on. He ran even faster after the flying machine, making no real progress of course, but at the very least, the stallion refused to let it get away from him.

Truthfully the machine was only flying at a quarter of the speed it was capable of, for that was what Mister Greed had commanded. He was watching the desperate boy with amusement and interest from his spot atop the tower balcony, wondering just how far the little shit would keep following him if he made it seem like he had any chance in hell of keeping up...

Twenty minutes went by. The boy and his horse followed the warship out of town, across the plains beyond. Thirty minutes, then an hour. Finally Greed had himself a chuckle, and told his men to stall the ship and get him on the speakers. Holding up a receiver to his mouth, the infamous thief looked down at Dusty with his sharp golden eyes narrowed, but a smirk upon his lips. "Go home now, boy. I'm getting bored with you." He instructed him, in a tone that suggested that it was clearly a very dangerous position to be in. "You don't skit I'm gonna lug an iron loogie atcha, but I don't wanna have to do that. Mostly because it's a waste of ammo, but also because I'm trying to give you a chance. You might not think so, but I'm actually going out of my way to be nice to you right now, kid, which I don't normally do, except that you ARE just a dumb kid, and it's more fun to fuck with you. But you better just hunker down and accept right now, that whatever it is we stole from you, you ain't getting it back."

Cowed by the presence of the infamous man, with his classic rugged good looks (Salt and pepper hair, dirty olive skin and golden eyes, which were reportedly responsible for stealing many a man's wife and seducing many a virgin, without resorting to kidnapping) Dusty felt more like his namesake than ever by comparison. Without the brilliant ivory steed to carry him there, he would never have made it there at all, and without it here now to ride upon, he wouldn't look even the least bit respectable or imposing to this man. In essence, if not for an animal taking pity on him, Earnest Greed would have never even given him the time of day...

But now wasn't the time to pout and dwell, he had been given time to speak and he needed to use it wisely. "SIR, PLEASE, you have my WIFE!" Dusty hollered up at him. "Her name is Teresa, sir, please give her back!"

The older man seemed to be considering it. "Huh... Fawson, you go on 'n ask-see if we got some gal named Teresa down there?" He requested informally of a very formal-looking man nearby, a stern elder with white hair in black butler's clothes. The man nodded without a word and they waited in silence until he came back up a few minutes later, Teresa in his grasp.

"DUSTY!" She shouted at the sight of him, ready to lunge over the railing and into his arms, except for being held back by Fawson, who despite his age was quite strong.

"TERESA!" He shouted right back, but was quickly cut off by Greed.

"Alright, alright. That's all very cute, but I haven't got all day so neither have you. Hurry up and say goodbye and we'll be heading on out again."

Cold dread and white hot indignation rose up in Dusty at the deception. "Sir, PLEASE! We were just married, you can't-!"

"Aw shut it already! Leave the horse-shit to your horse!" Greed suddenly snarled back at him. "You think a man who made his first fortune on poker can't tell a lie as fuckin' obvious as that?! Yer both virgins and yer not married! She doesn't even have a ring!"

"We were too poor for a ring!" Dusty protested, and well, that was true at least.

But Greed dismissed it just as easily as the rest. "I don't believe it for a minute. You've never been with that woman. And you know how I can tell, besides the fact that you both just got 'VIRGIN' written all over your faces? It's coz you asked me 'please', boy. Pretty please! A real man, a man who has been touched by a woman and claimed her as his own? He'll be spitting and fit to kill, because he knows what he's got to lose. Well... Sorry boy, but virgins fetch a high price where we're going. Though you have my word I'll protect her until then! Gotta protect my investment after all!"

Acting on impulse, Teresa shouted out in revulsion, "NO!"

Greed just laughed. "Fawson, continue at a leisurely pace! Let the little shit try and follow us until his pretty white horse dies of exhaustion. Or he could be smart and go back now. Let's see what he does!"

Of course there was no question. As soon as the ship started moving, so did the stallion, as if it were made of the same components as Greed's machine, but instead of oil or coal, it ran on its own source of energy - On the force of its own willpower, and the desperate need to save an innocent soul. Dusty knew damn well that his command had nothing to do with it, that he was simply along for the ride. More or less just a mouthpiece... He vaguely wondered if Teresa would even still want him if he caught up to her, or if she'd rather just ride off with her true savior, the horse...

"DUSTY!" Her voice shouted out to him from the ship, snapping him out of it. "PLEASE! Don't hurt yourself! Don't follow us anymore! You're just gonna die here! Just... Forget about me! Go on home! You hear?"

...Damn it what the hell was he thinking. What did it matter who saved her, she was an angel and she needed saving, right from the grips of hell and its demons. And of course an angel would think about everyone but herself. She was thinking of Dusty too of course, but also her sisters, and her uncles, whom she knew had been shot but did not know if they were dead. She wasn't thinking about herself at all, so Dusty needed to stop feeling sorry for his own self and feel sorrier for her instead...

"I WON'T LEAVE YOU, TERESA!" He shouted back, urging the horse on, and holding on for dear life.

She choked and sobbed, watching him from the craft with the wind whipping in her eyes and face, sticking to her tears. She wanted her freedom desperately, but she wanted the man she loved alive even more...

And it soon became apparent that her simple desire was in serious jeopardy. A cliff was coming up, a steep crack in the landmass with a rocky ravine at the bottom, a two hundred foot drop or so, and the distance across had to be close to thirty feet. If there was any chance they could make it, it was right damn close to zero, surely...

When she saw it, Teresa started to panic, "DUSTY! Go back! Just STOP! No more! Go home! Don't try to be a hero!"

But deep down in his soul, something told Dusty... If he didn't try to be her hero now, there would be no trying to come back and be her hero later... He needed to be here for her, now. Even if it killed him, even if he gained absolutely nothing from it except for Teresa knowing he would never, ever abandon her...

His heart racing almost as fast as the feet of his gallant steed, Dusty could do nothing but grasp the creature's mane and squeeze his legs around him in a death-like grip, bracing himself for what was to come. The fissure got nearer, and nearer. Finally at the last moment he closed his eyes. If he kept watching, he might just chicken out and throw himself off at the last second.

But then that last second passed, and he felt the horse jerk, jump, and lunge. Even without immediately falling, even with the wind pushing past them as they practically flew across the ravine, Dusty could feel the gravity drop out underneath them. He was seized by a feeling as solid as the rocks at the bottom of the two hundred foot drop beneath them – That death was their bed, and if they didn't make this jump, that was where they were going to lie...

He waited, that single second like an eternity. Just when he was sure they ought to be feeling the sensation of falling, instead, they connected with something hard and jarring. The horse toppled over, throwing Dusty from his back. He felt his shoulder hit the ground, POP and CRACK, and then his body was rolling, scraping and skidding across the sand-studded ground...

He screamed. No use trying not to. His arm was dislocated AND broken. He heard the horse whinny, and with some great effort he managed to throw himself onto his back, because he needed to breathe and with his face in the dirt his lungs were getting more dust than air. Once finally upright, he glanced over and up. The horse was getting back to his feet, limping a little at first, but it soon steadied itself, and trotted over to Dusty. Bending his head down, he sniffed at the injury, seemingly acknowledging it. Then, grabbing hold of the front of Dusty's shirt with his horse-teeth, he dragged the boy up to his feet, without much sympathy for the cries of pain it brought out of him. Stumbling and almost tripping on the way, he managed to get his body to lean on the horse, and keep upright, while his eyes reached the sky for where Greed's ship had been.

To his surprise, it had stalled and parked in the air. Earnest Greed and the others had disappeared for a second, but then Greed leaned over the balcony and called down to Dusty, "HOT DAMN, BOY! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? HAHAHAAAA~!"

He had a good, long, hysterical laugh. Finally after a full two minutes of it, he wiped his crying eyes, and proceeded to comment, "Have you ever seen some dumb bastard get so lucky in all yer life, Fawson?"

"Only you, sir." Fawson replied, without a beat and almost without emotion, save for a very small smirk.

"That's right!" Earnest replied back down at Dusty, rather accusingly. "Damn right! I'M the only bastard around here that lucky, so I know damn well that wasn't just dumb luck! You got yourself one HELL of a horse there, boy! How'd some poor kid like you who can't even afford to get his girl a ring manage to get such a nice horse anyways?" He sounded very suspicious, and Dusty supposed it had to make sense.

"...Found him." Dusty called back up, voice thick with pain and clogged with dirt. Earnest claimed not to hear him and made him repeat it, louder. "I said I found him!"

"Oh. Right... Sure ya did." Earnest clearly didn't really believe that, but it seemed he didn't much care about it either. He WAS the King of Thieves, after all. He didn't care if some kid somehow managed to steal a nobleman's prized horse. He was just mad he didn't get to such a fine specimen himself first. "Well, hell. How about this, kid... What say we make a trade? You give me the horse you rode in on, and I'll let you walk away with your girl?"

Dusty was genuinely shocked by this offer. Shocked into a moment of silence, he found his thoughts racing. He knew he ought to agree to it right away, of course, what would Teresa think of him if he didn't? And yet...

He looked up at the horse, and the horse was glancing back at him, watching him. Waiting to see what he would do. Would he agree? Hand over the creature who had made it possible to get this close to saving his lover in the first place? The one who had just risked his life for him? Would he betray him...?

He... Had to… Didn't he? "I'll do it!" He hollered up to him, without wasting another minute. His heart sank and he looked down at the pure white hide he was leaning on, instead of the eyes of the stallion, who was still not moving to let him fall, even despite the betrayal...

Trading a horse for a woman? No man should feel guilty for that and yet... He still did...

He waited for Greed to agree. But he never did. When Dusty finally searched him out again, he found the older man with his chin tucked onto his palm in thought. "...Hmm... Hmm hmm hmm..." After a painfully lengthy pause, he finally glanced down, and grinned like a devil. "...Know what? Nah. I change my mind."

"WHAT?!" Dusty demanded, not only indignant at the decision, but the flippancy of it, after he had wrestled with the heavy weight of his own choice.

Without empathy of any kind, Greed just laughed and laughed. "Now don't look so surprised, boy! I'm a gambler, but even I don't bet when the payout doesn't look like it'll be worth what you might lose! And let me tell you, a man like me learns something like this real early in life: If another man is too eager to agree to a deal, it's either because he's a fool, or because he knows he's getting the better deal..."

Suddenly he looked away from Dusty. Towards Fawson, who was holding back Teresa...

Greed advanced on them, and Teresa let out a cry as he grabbed her by the bicep and dragged her away from his steward. Then he pulled her towards the balcony, where Dusty could see him inspecting her. "...Hmm. Great tits, but a little too short for my tastes. Most guys I know like a girl with a nice long pair o' legs. Definitely cute, maybe even pretty, but not what I would say is 'beautiful'... So, that makes me wonder, little lady..."

He looked directly into her eyes. She was shivering so hard, she was almost on the verge of fainting. His breath was surprisingly but sickeningly sweet, like cake and various candies. His teeth were far from the worst she'd ever seen, but there were clearly a few cavities, and the much too sweet smell was carried by a personal poison, a foul miasma unique to this often murderous man...

He let her shake and quiver before his odor of sugar and death for several seconds, and then finally had out with it, "What makes you so special, huh, little lady? What makes a gal like you worth dying for? That little fool done chased after you in the first place despite clearly seeing who he was up against, defied me and went after you again, jumped a HUGE fucking ravine - Seriously how did that horse not break its damn leg? I know our ancestors bred 'em to have stronger legs but still, DAMN that was a big jump! I seriously still want that horse! I mean, come to think of it, what's stopping me from, say, taking your woman, the horse, AND your life? That seems like a neat way to tie the whole thing up! Fawson, why don't you go ahead and put a bullet-"

Teresa didn't let him get any further before beginning to beg, "NO! PLEASE, please don't kill him-!"

He of course had already been expecting her to say that. But he wasn't prepared for what she said next, grabbing onto the front of his coat and staring right into his eyes. "PLEASE... Spare him, and I'll tell you EXACTLY what makes me so special! So beautiful! What makes me worth dying for! I'll tell you, tonight..."

She whispered the last part so sultrily, Greed had to rethink what he had assumed about her clearly being a virgin. Despite that, his interest was still piqued, but that suddenly increased tenfold, no, a hundredfold, as another female's voice whispered into his 'ear', that is, directly into his mind. She was a strong and wise woman who he knew to be immensely beautiful despite not at all knowing what she truly looked like, and that she was much, much older than him... She had once been his very closest confidant, but she hadn't spoken to him for a couple years. That had almost started to worry him, but now she was here again, and she was telling him quite clearly, 'LEAVE THE BEAST, IT OFFENDS ME... TAKE THE GIRL... I DESIRE HER…'

Well now. His lucky lady had never let him down before...

He nudged his head just barely in the direction that they had been traveling to, an indication to resume. "...Fawson, let's go, 50% speed. Leave the little idiot. He's probably gonna die trying to get back to town anyways. But if he does survive, hopefully he'll either wise up or man up! You gotta be at least one or the other in a world like this, or else nobody is gonna let you keep so much as a donkey or even a wife that looks like one! But I'll let you keep yer beast, since I can be a pretty fair fellow time to time... And honestly, I just don't like the shitty pretentious look that that fancy white asshole is giving me anyways..."

Teresa stared down at the man she had promised to marry, burning his image into her memory, no matter how ashamed and pathetic he looked. She didn't know what the world could possibly have in store for them, but she knew at least one thing... As long as they were both alive, there was hope. And as long as there was hope for them, Teresa would be hoping and praying with all her might... She would do whatever she could to get back to him. She just hoped dearly that he would still want her in whatever shape she was in by then, because even as he was to her now, a broken, defeated failure... She still wanted him more than anything, more than ever...

It was hard to look up at her, but Dusty forced himself to. Forced himself to know that the sadness in her face was his fault. He would do anything it took to see her smile again...  
The ship took off, blowing dust in their faces as it rose up and away, quickly on the far end of the horizon and then out of sight.

Dusty choked, and coughed, and sobbed, laying his dirty, wet face upon the immaculate horse's hide. The mud only stayed on his face…

The stallion seemed to ignore him for a short spell, but then it suddenly reached back, bit the back of his collar, and pulled him painfully up and over his back, seemingly annoyed. Dusty did his best to hang on as feebly as he could as the kind creature carried him back. Needing to go the long way around the cliff, though, it was a few hours before they were even halfway to home. Well past dark by then, Dusty began to nod off in the dark and the cold, and he slipped off of the stallion, hitting his head. Then he remembered no more until waking up the following day.

He was still in pain, but his arm had been given a rough patch job, that is, it was popped into place and set in a splint. It was still broken. The many other large cuts and scrapes he had acquired from the fall had been bandaged up. The stallion was currently licking at one of his bandages to wake him. His head was sticking in through a window. He was in his room, at home, at Earl's...?

Within the minute, his father figure came into the room, and told the horse to get. He seemed to be in a bad mood. "You being banged up like this is just what else we needed..." He mentioned gruffly as he pushed the white stallions head out of the window. He quickly followed with, "Don't suppose you know what else is going on..."

Dusty shrugged very slowly with his unbroken arm, sapped of energy. "All I know is that Earnest Greed has Teresa, and as soon as I can get on my feet, I'm going after her..."  
Earl turned and glared at him. Apparently there was a piece of the puzzle Dusty was missing. Earl harshly informed him of that now. "Your sister is in jail, Dusty. She's in big trouble. She stole a horse and they caught her. They might have been willing to be a little lenient any other day, but first we had this attack, and apparently they got some girl that they're saying is the Lone Pearl too! I don't think it is, I think someone just dressed up some poor native girl who looked like her to use as a scapegoat, she can't even speak enough to defend herself, but, well... They're gonna hang both of them. Tomorrow morning..."

~The previous day~

Sandy of course did not go to her room. She knew that Dusty wouldn't be able to take on those men by himself. She didn't know how much help she could end up being to him overall, but she knew, at the very least, she could take down one of them…

But she had a better chance of getting there in time if she went on horseback. Not to mention, the added height of the horse would give her extra protection, and, well... If she were being completely honest, she did have one slightly selfish motivation too. She had never ridden a horse, she had been forbidden from it all her life. In all this commotion, it was probably going to be her only chance to ever get to ride one…

So she stole away to Earl's stable, and went up to the first horse in sight, a cream-colored mare. Too rushed to bother with a saddle, she climbed onto the beast's back and gently patted her. She was one of the fastest horses, and she was also normally one of the more skittish animals. But Sandy's presence didn't alarm her at all. Of course not, since although she was not allowed to ride them, Sandy smothered all the horses with affection as often as she could. Once the gate was open the chosen mare trotted out quickly, as if already aware of her purpose, and then as soon as she was in the open, she began to gallop.

However, almost immediately after leaving the barn and heading for the gate, Earl spotted her and came running out the front door, hey-ing and hollering at her. "SANDY! What in the HELL do you think you're doing, girl?! Get offa that horse, NOW!"

The animal reared up to avoid trampling the man, who put himself right between the horse and the gate at the last second, arms outstretched. There was a tense couple of seconds between them, and then finally, in a heavily darkened tone, Earl gruffly asked her, "...You stealing from me, girl?"

"No sir." Sandy immediately responded, but in a respectful tone, and with a healthy dose of fear. "But I gotta help Dusty! The town is being attacked, and he went to go help Teresa. He went off by himself! I need to go help him!"

Earl stared long and hard at her. Sandy was sure he was about insist she get off, but to her surprise, his expression suddenly softened. "...Alright. Go on. I'll be right behind you."  
He said no more, and she didn't wait for him to change his mind. She rerouted the horse around him and went flying down the path to town without another thought about him or his strangely reasonable decision. Earl could be strict and hot-headed, but he could be plenty reasonable sometimes too...

She rode as fast and hard as the average little mare could manage, but still she came just a few minutes too late. Dusty was riding off in the far distance after Earnest Greed's ship. Sandy was a second away from bolting after him too, but then a little girl's voice called out to her from the bar. It was the oldest of Teresa's little sisters, thirteen year old Tamara. Ten year old Tabitha stood behind her, and behind Tabitha was seven year old twins Tracy and Tasha. All four were crying their eyes out. "Sandy please, somebody's gotta help Uncle Roy and Uncle Li..."

She hesitated, then got off the horse and went over to them. The men were inside the bar. The little girls had moved them just a bit, to more comfortable lying positions. Roy had gotten it real bad in the stomach and both legs, Li's case was less serious, one in the left leg and the other barely grazed his shoulder. Greed's lackeys weren't the best shots (he had his own team of snipers if that was what he needed) but they were also told to kill only occasionally, when necessary. If someone put up too much of a fuss. You don't become a legend or gain followers by killing every last person who would tell your tale, after all.

Sandy came up to the men, kneeling down next to Roy first, at Li's insistence, who crouched over the other man, very deeply worried for his oldest and best friend. He was bleeding a lot and in a great deal of pain, and all they'd been able to do so far was give him some balled up tablecloths and sheets to stall the bleeding.

She was very serious, studying his pain. She tuned out the crying of the girls and all of her emotions about the matter, her knowledge that she had to hurry in order to go help her brother and Teresa too spurring her on. But, she did not allow it to interfere with what she knew she had to do... "Tamara, I need more clean sheets. Hurry..." She added, noticing that Roy seemed to be on the verge of going into shock. Acting on impulse, she smoothed her hand over his brow to calm him, as Li was also trying to do. But Li's hand was shaky and he was scared for his friend. Sandy was calm and her hand was steady... And the tips of her fingers were glowing...

Li and Roy had both been staring very deeply at each other until then, but at this motion they both looked up at the young woman suddenly. Her eyes were glowing too. Normally a deep indigo blue, they were now glowing aqua. "Don't be scared." She told them, her voice perfectly level. "I've never done this before, not like this, but I know what to do..."

Both men abruptly cried out in clear agony for a moment as they could feel the bullets being pushed out of their bodies, out of the wounds... By their own blood? Their blood was suddenly rushing to push out these foreign pieces of metal, and yet, it was not leaving their bodies...?

The second the bullets finally emerged, falling to the floor, Tamara had come back with the sheets, this time from their own beds since they had already used the cloths from the tables. Sandy hastily took them and began wrapping Roy's stomach first, who was now bleeding like normal again, for the most part. It didn't seem as if he was bleeding out as fast, the pain lessened greatly, and he could feel at least a small amount of strength return to him...

The wound on Li's leg also healed, although she seemed to be so tired from the effort by then, that Sandy wasn't able to heal his grazed shoulder as well. After panting for breath for several seconds, Sandy looked up and implored them, "Please... Don't tell anybody I did that for you... I've only ever done something like that for myself before..."

She wasn't sure why she bothered to tell them that. She seemed to be a bit dazed, but then, the men definitely were too. They nodded, speechless, unable to think of what to say to what they had just witnessed and experienced.

She nodded back. Then, on unsteady feet, she began to rise up. Woozy and light-headed, she swayed just a little bit before righting herself again. "...Okay... I gotta go help Dusty and Teresa now... You guys look after the girls..." She mentioned, leaving them and going back outside, where she slowly climbed back onto the mare's back. However, just as she was about to tell her 'hyah', she heard a clicking noise from a short distance behind her, and when she turned, there was Sheriff Bill, his pistol pointed at her.

"Off the stolen horse, missy. Now. You're under arrest for theft, and for assaulting your own damn caretaker. After all he's done for you? Shame on you..."

Turning a bit more, Sandy realized that Earl was behind him, as well as two of his older son's. Earl now sported a shiner to his left eye that wasn't there when she left...

Traitor! Liar! To hell with him... "HYAH!" She suddenly called out, and the horse immediately bolted off. She jerked, almost losing balance. She felt very weak suddenly...

She looked back. Her mare was going fast but the sheriff had a fast horse too, and he had the advantage of riding it saddled. He was quickly gaining on her. Thankfully he had put the gun away... Well, she was thankful of that at first, until she realized his true intentions...

His black and white spotted gelding was gaining on her, and soon it was just a few short feet behind. Still, she had a chance, if her mare could just go a little bit faster-!

Out of nowhere she felt her head being yanked back, pain shooting through her scalp as several clumps of her very long golden hair were pulled out. The sheriff had caught onto the very ends of the strands and pulled her back, sending her flying off the horse and sprawling onto the ground. The wind was knocked out of her as she fell onto her back, though thankfully she covered the back of her head with her hands at the last second, covering the spot where her hair had been pulled out instinctively from the pain. Then she rolled, scraping up her body and getting dirt and sand into her mouth, which she coughed and choked on, while simultaneously trying to get the wind that had been knocked out of her, back into her...

So of course it was no challenge at all at this point for the sheriff to cuff her, and once she was cuffed, she was dragged away back to the jailhouse. She allowed herself to cry at the betrayal, but only to wash the sand out of her eyes... With no sympathy, only the rush of catching prey in him, the sheriff mentioned with a grin, "Hey, at least it won't be boring while you wait for your sentence - You've got yourself a famous cellmate. The Lone Pearl Cowgirl!"

~Present Time~

Dusty stared at him in shock. It almost felt like his heart stopped, for just a few seconds… "What…?"

He already felt like a selfish asshole for how he had been trying to give Sandy away, but to learn virtually immediately after that she was going to DIE… No. NO. She couldn't die, he didn't want her to die, he had never wanted something like that, this couldn't be happening, how could they-?!

He looked up at Earl. His thoughts were a maelstrom. "We gotta do something. We gotta help her. We gotta—"

Earl was staring hard at him. Dusty slowly trailed off, sensing that the older main was waiting to speak. After he finally went quiet, Earl spoke up again. "…We can't do that. Not this time. Not anymore…"

Dusty's eyes went wide, and his blood went cold. "W…What… What are you talking about, Earl…" His voice was almost numb from the shock of what he was hearing.

Earl's already hard stare sharpened. "I told you, Dusty. The townspeople are out for blood. They were gonna blame someone either way. Besides that, after what just happened, after all that was stolen, things are gonna be much more scarce around here than usual. We can't save room for extra mouths to feed, especially not if that person has nothing practical to offer in return. And we both know we're never gonna find her a husband, no man wants that. I know you've wanted Sandy out of yer hair for a while now, Dusty. Don't even try to deny it. I know better, because I've felt the same way for a long time, longer than you. She was cute as a kid, but she's not a kid anymore, and this isn't cute anymore… Don't you see, boy? This is our chance to have done with her and move on with our lives…"

Dusty only stared for the first few seconds, unable to believe what he'd just heard. But he knew Earl wasn't joking… And it made him sick. It made him angry, SO damned angry, he just wanted to punch the hell out of the man. But that would do him no good. Earl and his sons would just beat the crap out of him, then have him arrested too…

But then again, it made what he had to do next all that much easier…

Getting up, he went around the room, taking every practical thing he owned. But he only took the things that he had bought with his own money. Anything that Earl had ever gifted to him stayed right where it was.

"…What are you doing, boy?" Earl slowly asked of him as he watched the young man toss his items onto the bed – An extra set of clothes, an empty canteen, a utility knife, a hunting knife, etc.

Honesty was always the best policy. "I'm gonna do whatever I can to save my SISTER." He stressed the word, as if Earl had either forgotten the meaning or the fact that Sandy was his. "And then I'm gonna go save Teresa... And that's it."

"…That's it?" Earl repeated, confused by those last words.

"That's it." Dusty repeated as confidently as he could, despite being on the verge of shaking from what he was about to say. But damn it all he was GOING to say it... "I don't know what I'll do after that, but I'm not coming back here. I'd rather be homeless than live with a traitor."

"…Dusty, your sister hit me—" Earl tried, but he was cut off in an instant.

"Bullshit. If Sandy was gonna hit anyone she would have hit ME earlier. You had your boys do that, admit it."

He wouldn't admit it. He tried something else instead. "…Look, son. I know this is a lot to have to deal with on one day. But sometimes when times are tough, you gotta butcher a horse you liked instead of a pig, you know?"

Dusty seethed but didn't respond at first. First Hank and those 'training' comments, now this? Did every man in this town think of his sister as more of an animal than a person?!

Earl went on, unaware of his building rage. "This is just one of those times, alright? Things are gonna be tough for a while. We're gonna have to make some sacrifices. But look Dusty… How about this. If you just leave this be… I'll split my land evenly between you and my sons. I know I said there wasn't enough and that you'd just have to work hard and find a place of your own, but what if you didn't have to? If you keep working for me I'll find a plot to give you. You're never gonna get Teresa back, but you can find another wife and settle down by next year if you—"

If anything that just pissed off Dusty more. "Thanks for the bribe, Earl. But my former statement still stands. I ain't gonna live with or even BY some TRAITOR. And I ain't gonna give up on my sister or Teresa! So go ahead, hit me, throw me out, I don't care anymore! You ain't no kin of mine!"

Earl stood silent for a moment or two, then he grinned. "…Aw, hell, Dusty. I ain't gonna hit you… I would never hit a man as pathetic as you. That's almost as bad as hitting a woman. In fact, I'll give you a little something for your inheritance right now…"

Supremely pissed but also strangely calm, Earl ripped the pillowcase off of Dusty's old pillow, and filled it with all of Dusty's belongings. Then he tied it at the end, and handed it over. "There. Your inheritance."

A dirty old pillowcase. Admittedly though, Dusty was actually grateful for it, if only to hold his things. But he wasn't about to say so. He simply took the sack, and began walking away and out of the house, without another word. He had nothing else to say.

Earl did though. He waited until Dusty was walking down the porch steps, then shouted out to him, "Yer a damn fool, Dusty!"

Dusty didn't look back at him, but he shouted back, "There are worse things to be in this world, Earl."

There was a few seconds of silence after that, and thinking it was over, Dusty trudged on. Suddenly though, he heard Earl shout out, "AWW, WHAT THE HELL-?!"

Dusty looked back. The white stallion had just trotted around the house and over to the porch, where it had apparently decided to take an enormous, explosive shit all over the steps, getting some on Earl's shoes and even his pants. Then the beast quickly galloped away, over to Dusty's side, where it slowed down to a walk. Apparently they were going the same way…

"You really are damn smart, you know that…" Dusty snorted humorously.

By now though, even a man as dense as Dusty was definitely starting to see… That the stallion really DID know that already.

He just hoped the judge was half as smart or as kind…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


	4. The Priestess and The Library

It was very cold when Ju-Li awoke. Her entire body was chilled to the bone. She was used to being in the sun, or near the warmth of the hearth in her former parent's hut, but at the moment, it felt like her entire body and soul was cast under a shadow, literally and figuratively. Her forehead was throbbing and her vision was swimming. She was dizzy. It was dark. Dark, except for a large patch of purple in the corner...

She looked over. There was another girl there. She was bigger than her, and her skin was a very pretty shade of lavender. Her hair was like the yellow sun. But… Only natives had purple skin, and only settlers had yellow hair…? Was she native, or was she a settler?

Ju-Li tried speaking to her in native tongue first. "Who are you? Where are we? What is this place?"

The other girl looked uncomfortable. She shook her head. "I don't speak your language… Sorry."

Sandy actually was sorry for it. She had wanted to speak to her only companion. It was maddeningly boring, and she had nothing to look forward to but death…

Dusty hadn't come to help her, or even to visit her, in the entire two days she'd been held in this place. She'd held out hope for him, but she had been informed several hours ago, as the jailer for that day's shift passed her the hard crust of bread, withering apple and tin cup of water that would be her last meal, that her brother would not be coming today either, and that she would see him among the crowd at the execution, first thing in the morning…

Sandy was unaware that her brother had tried to go to the judge to appeal for her, and had in fact been temporarily confined himself, until the day of her execution, because he had gotten frustrated and screamed at them to let her go, that she was innocent. She was under the impression that he simply didn't care anymore if she lived or died…

Despite her grim mood, or perhaps because of it, she had hoped that the girl would wake up and talk to her, at least entertain her a little while before they were sent to the gallows, or the firing squad. The town apparently hadn't decided yet. The jailer had informed her of that, mockingly, a couple hours before. He was now snoozing on the other side of the room. They apparently didn't believe they had the real Lone Pearl either, with the less than strict security. No, they would just try to turn her in as an impostor, instead. Even mere impostors of the Lone Pearl got a decent bounty, and after the robbing, the town wasn't above killing an innocent girl out of spite, let alone for a profit…

She was pleasantly surprised and grateful for the distraction from her grim thoughts, to hear the girl speak up again suddenly, now in English, "You… Purple…"

Well, pleasantly surprised and mildly offended, that that was the first thing she thought to say. Sandy returned, in too sour a mood to hide her brief annoyance. "Yeah, and you're white. Mostly..." She added, wincing at those big purple bruises on the other girl's skin. "So shouldn't you know how to speak English? How come you don't?"

The girl was staring at her while she spoke. Slowly she repeated back to her the words that she understood, hoping the other girl would get her meaning. "Yeah, yes… White. Don't speak English. Little, small? Food and drink and white and purple, I know… I know... C-Color..." She seemed a little uncertain, but then repeated, more firmly, "Colors. White and purple and yellow, green and blue, brown and black... I know food and drink. Water, apple… Don't know, that one…" She finally trailed off, pointing at the half portion of bread that Sandy had left for her.

Sandy glanced at it, then back at her. "It's bread. Eat it. It's filling."

"I can eat?" The girl replied hopefully. She was very hungry, and her stomach rumbled just then to prove it.

Sandy nodded and handed it to the girl, who began to nibble small bites of the hard, cracker-like crust. She let her get a few bites in her, then she followed up by asking, "So, one? Do you know two?"

The girl first reached for a sip of water to clear her throat of crumbs, and then recited in sequence, "One two three four five six seven eight nine ten!"

Sandy smiled back at her encouragingly. "That's good! You're good at the numbers! Can you go higher than ten? More than ten?"

She hesitated a little, but continued to recite from her now much more limited memory. "Eleven… Twelve… Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen…"

She began to hesitate, but after a few seconds more, she finally exclaimed, with pride, "Ah! Twenty!"

But then she quickly cradled her head, gently wincing, in pain. "Ah… No more than twenty…"

Sandy held up her hands. "Hey, no problem. Numbers can definitely make my head hurt sometimes too. But, it looks like something more serious is going on with you, huh… Your head? Hurt bad?"

She nodded a little, but even that hurt, so she stopped and responded verbally, "Yeah, hurt bad…"

Well. From what Sandy had gathered so far, this girl seemed to have a child's understanding of English. The words that a child of about, maybe, five or six years of age would have in their vocabulary? But she was physically at least ten years older than that. She must have gotten lost from her parents as a girl and adopted by natives, Sandy guessed, very fascinated with her cellmate so far, even if she obviously wasn't the Lone Pearl Cowgirl, as the townspeople claimed. She sure did look a LOT like her, though. And you had to be under a rock to not know that pearl jewelry of ANY kind was definitely out of fashion with the Settlers…

So that was certainly a lot to know, but she still didn't know her name. Time to rectify that. "Hey. I'm Sandy. My name is Sandy." She repeated, pointing to her chest with her thumbs, then holding out her hand and repeating one more time. "Sandy. Me, Sandy. You? Your name is…?"

The girl understood. "My name… Is Ju-Li." She pointed to her own chest too. "Ju-Li." But then, she also pointed directly at the mysterious silvery pearl in her ear. That single, lonely, unlucky little pearl… "Ju-Li."

"Uh, yeah, bout that…" Sandy deadpanned next. "I kinda get that you've been raised by natives, but, have you also been living under a rock or something? Who put that thing on you? Whoever it was, they were trying to get you killed. Don't you know its trouble for a girl that looks like you to wear pearls, especially one that looks like that?"

Predictably, she seemed to lose her there. "No… Not rock." She replied. "Ju. Is Ju, Ju-Ju." She pinched both earlobes, indicating she knew that normally, both ears were pierced. Apparently pearl jewelry was not out of fashion with the native tribes. "But I… One Ju, no more. Yes?"

"Pearl." Sandy replied. "It's a pearl. And it's dangerous to wear pearls, especially just one. Danger? Not safe? Do you understand what those words mean, danger and safe?"

Very distantly she remembered being taught about not going too near the fireplace as a child. A huge, ornate fireplace, big enough to swallow up an entire person, it contained a flame more apt to be called a bonfire in the cold seasons, to keep that enormous place warm. The danger spot. You didn't get too close to it or you'd get burned up…

She seemed to understand what she meant, because the native-raised girl suddenly looked a little fearful. "Danger?"

Sandy nodded. "Yes. Wearing that pearl in your ear," She spoke slowly, and pointed to her ear. "Is dangerous. Danger. Understand? You should take it off—" She made the motions of that action, and the other girl immediately, instinctively shook her head no.

"Never-ever." She stressed to clarify. "Can't…"

Sandy stared at her hard, getting annoyed. It was very difficult but she was trying to keep her emotions under control. Of course the only thing in the world she wanted more than anything to do now was cry her eyes out. But she had to focus, and stay as calm as possible.

She knew it would help nothing to get irritated with the girl, and yet… "Can't? If you don't they'll kill you. You'll die. Die, understand?" They probably would still kill her anyways, but maybe if she just tried to explain and took the pearl off, they might go easy on her. Sandy knew they wouldn't show the same courtesy to her and she knew the reason why would have nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with the color of her skin, so it made her mad that the other girl seemed to be acting stubborn over something stupid. "Would you rather die than take out that pearl?"

She didn't hesitate for even a second. "Yes. Because…" She added, noticing Sandy's glare, which clearly bore more than a bit of resentment. "It… Very important." That was a big word. She remembered a woman stressing it to her when she was little, time to time. "Sister… Sister, pearl…" She went on to try to explain, confused and unsure.

She got up, crossed their small cell and then pointed outside of the bars to where a poster of the Lone Pearl Cowgirl was hanging, across the room. "Her. My sister. I find. Very important. Very, very important..."

Her lavender cellmate went quite silent for a moment or two. "…Wait, what?" She finally blinked. "You're saying… The Lone Pearl Cowgirl… The woman in that poster." She clarified, pointing at the picture herself. "You're saying, that she's… Yer sister…?"

That was obviously more than a little hard to believe. Even though she looked an awful lot like the Lone Pearl, well, so did a lot of other women. The Lone Pearl was a woman with light skin and dark brown eyes and hair. It was one of the most prevalent appearances among the settlers, so innocent women being mistaken for the Lone Pearl was not an uncommon occurrence, far from it.

Of course said women would then deny any and all involvement with the Lone Pearl, to avoid persecution. This girl was claiming, even with the threat of death over her head, that the Lone Pearl was her sister…

Sandy didn't believe her right away, at least not fully. Surely the girl was just confused or mistaken, or maybe that knock to the head had rattled her senses a bit too much. But then, if nothing else, Sandy knew a liar when she met one, and this girl… Was not.

"Okay… Well…" The lavender girl replied slowly. "If that IS true, that's NOT good… I mean, do you have any idea who that woman is? What she's done?"

Ju-Li did in fact have a good idea of that already, but Sandy continued without waiting for her to answer. "That's the Lone Pearl Cowgirl, aka the Kingslayer. She's the single most wanted criminal on the entire planet! She's killed four Kings and one Crown Prince, and over a thousand other men have lost their lives warring against her and her devoted followers! The last living King and all his subjects want her deader than dead! So anyone who is connected to the Lone Pearl in any way, or part of her personal army, is also killed if they are caught! Do you understand?"

Somehow, she really did. She understood 'death', and 'killing'. She remembered there being a room in the big place, the castle, a room dedicated to hanging the heads of wild beasts. It seemed older sister had inherited their biological father's talent for hunting, in spades… But it seemed she had a strong preference for another kind of prey entirely…  
Ju-Li nodded slowly. "My sister… Is in big, big trouble…"

Sandy almost wanted to laugh, but it would have had so little humor in it, there was no point in bothering. So instead she just let out a huffy little sigh. "Yeah, to say the least. But then, we're in big, big trouble too, so we should probably stop worrying about the Lone Pearl and… What, if any connection you guys have…" Despite having a strong feeling in her gut that the girl wasn't lying… That was just too much for Sandy to accept at once. "And start worrying about ourselves… You see…"

Creeping closer to the girl, Sandy checked to see if the jailer was still sleeping, then whispered to her, "We're gonna have to defend ourselves, come morning... Most people wouldn't have a chance, but… I have powers. Do you know what that means, powers? I could heal your hurt with them. But my powers, they take a lot of my energy, my strength… So I need to save my power, to use on the man who thinks he's gonna be our executioner…"

Ju-Li had been trying her best to keep up with what the girl was telling her, but that last word was too foreign.

Sandy slowed it down, and reigned it back in. But she kept the gravity in her voice. "Ju-Li… That man is going to try to kill us tomorrow morning... I need to save my power, to kill him first…" Of course how to get away from the crowd that would be surrounding them afterwards, that was another matter entirely. She'd probably have to bluff her way through and claim she could kill anyone else who tried to stop her. Hopefully she wouldn't be left so weak that the claim looked ridiculous and obviously false, but she was already nervous about if she could even do it once on the energy provided by dirty water, half a crust of bread and a withered apple…

Of course Ju-Li remembered that a vali hybrid that could phase through solid materials like a ghost would be very handy right about now, but since she already knew the creature would not help her unless it wanted to, and it was currently not here… Well, that seemed to say all that needed to be said, without saying anything… So she didn't say anything about it, either.

Instead Ju-Li supplied what she little she could do herself, instead of offering hope for help from another. "I will fight! If bad man tries to kill us, I will fight like Pogiwa! Like big mean bear! RAWR!"

The smaller girl put up her hands and outstretched her fingers like claws. Sandy laughed at her display. Unfortunately, she laughed just a little too loudly, and their guard snorted awake, and into a bad mood. "The hell-?!"

Suddenly skittish, Ju-Li jumped into Sandy's arms, embracing her in fear. Sandy couldn't really blame the young woman for her slight cowardice, since by the looks of that giant bruise on her forehead, the people of this town obviously hadn't given her the best reception. So she hugged her back in support as the slightly older man barked at them, "What the shit are you doing over there? Huh?! Why are you hugging like that? Are you doing something… Weird?!"

Sandy didn't understand his strange paranoia at first, but after more than two seconds passed by, it clicked. He thought they were…?

Ugh! HE was the weird one, to just assume something like that because two girls were hugging each other. But then, suddenly, it gave Sandy an idea. Maybe she didn't have to kill the executioner tomorrow. Maybe if she took a bit of a gamble right now, she might be able to get them out of their cell, and then they could escape the jail and get out of town before dawn.

She had to hurry, though. A glance at the clock informed her that dawn would soon be approaching…

Leaning in next to Ju-Li's pierced ear, Sandy whispered harshly at her, "Play along! This might get weird, but work with me and maybe we can get out of here!"

She quickly turned back to the jailer, and gave him what she hoped was a seductive little smile. "Well, sir… Can you blame us? We only have a few hours left to live, after all. Who wouldn't want to do it once before they die? It's just too bad there's not, you know… A man in here… Just us girls…"

The jailer's eyebrows shot up to his receding hairline. It didn't even occur to him for a second that two teenage girls wouldn't totally want a piece of his skinny-but-still-potbellied, forty-nine year old self… "Oh… Yeah? You want a man in there, sweetheart?"

Just a few hours ago and he'd been calling her 'witch', 'people-eater' and 'grape tits'. But now that he thought he was going to get something he wanted from her, now it was 'sweetheart'… It made her sick to continue the charade, but she forced her true feelings aside. Two lives were at stake, after all, so… "Yeah! Come on stud, what do you say? Wanna come join our little party…?"

Suggestively she wound her arms around Ju-Li, who did her best not to look too awkward while standing stiffly in the strange girl's even stranger embrace. Despite that the jailer was still eager to go. So eager he was indeed about to go, straight to their cell… But then he stopped. His eyes flickered back to his desk, where his pistol was lying on a stack of papers…

He went for it. Before he'd even turned back to the cell, Sandy began to protest, a heavy chill shaking her to the foundation of her feet. "H-Hey! W-What are you—You, you don't need that! I thought you wanted to have some fun! That's no fun! We're unarmed, you don't have to-!"

"You think I'm stupid, you little berry-colored bitch?" He sneered and snickered back at her. "I'm coming in there, and the gun is coming with me, whether you like it or not…" He told her, mocking her earlier suggestive tones.

That's what you think, Sandy thought herself, her eyes growing darker than Ju-Li's bruise as he came closer and closer to the cell. She could do it at any time, but she waited, completely still, until he unlocked and opened the cell door wide…

Now, Sandy suddenly willed, before he took even a single step closer to her, and pushing Ju-Li behind her protectively as she focused completely on him. Do it, powers. Do what you did the last time…

They did. But it wasn't at all like the last time. Both the man, and Sandy, suddenly went completely rigid, seizing up in a stiff stretch and then falling to the floor as dead weight. Ju-Li gasped deeply, and backed away in fear, watching as the two of them began to move unnaturally on the floor. Sandy was writhing, rocking and twisting back and forth, almost like a strange floor-dance. But the male jailer was jerking and wrenching his body in sickeningly unnatural poses…

Watching all this herself, from above and on a different plane of existence, Sandy suddenly realized that this was all wrong. This wasn't what had happened last time. Last time, when that strange man had tried to attack her on the road as a child, she had willed him to die, and he simply dropped dead. She never really got over it emotionally, but physically it had not harmed her…

Now, however, she could sense quite clearly, that her life was also in jeopardy. She could sense that hungry shadowy things were lurking below her, and that if she fell to them, they could consume her very soul...

She could see them too, because the oversized scale that she was standing on one side of, was made of a nearly invisible glass or crystal-like material. The jailer was standing on the other side of the scale…

And before them… Oh god. It was a GOD. A literal honest-to-god GOD. And it was an impatient god, a terrifying god, currently taking the form of an enormous crocodile-faced, mossy-backed ape…

The croc-jawed God looked at her with barely any emotion. Just a sneer of something, a hint of annoyance, but thankfully, also, just a hint of curiosity. No more, however, than she would give the spiders that made cobwebs in the corners of her tiny room, back 'home'… Not that it was a home, anymore…

She was like a curious little insect to this Great Being... An interesting bug to be studied, but nothing that couldn't be squashed if it made a nuisance of itself…

Thankfully for Sandy it was the jailer who chose to do that, the foolish man, he had started to scream and holler at the sight of the Beast-God, "W-WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT?!"

He stumbled backwards, but then he seemed to hit an invisible barrier before he fell off the scales, where a terrifyingly steep drop would lead into a sea of shadows. Countless forms swam in that sea, some like humans, some like horses and vali and serpents and scorpions and all other manner of beasts, each one fighting each other tooth and nail, eyes wide, wild, mad and glowing, tearing each other apart just to get a closer SNIFF of Sandy and the jailer. They were ravenous. They hadn't been fed in a long, long time…

"W-Wait…" Sandy protested weakly, in fear and confusion. "This is… This isn't how it was the first time I did this…"

The God leaned his long snout down at her then, snarling and showing jagged teeth. "THE FIRST TIME YOU DID THIS, YOUR SOUL WAS COMPLETELY INNOCENT. THAT IS… NO LONGER ENTIRELY THE CASE..."

Her indigo eyes went wide. No longer innocent? Just what did he mean by that? By the Settler's standards at least, she certainly would be 'innocent'. She wanted to get indignant about it, to deny his claim. But of course, she knew full well that this was 100% the wrong time and place to argue...

The jailer clearly lacked her instincts. He kept foolishly screaming, nearly incoherent, "AAAH! GET AWAY! DON'T COME NEAR ME YOU FUCKING THING, YOU FUCKING DEMON, AAAAAAAH-!"

The Judge-God wasn't even anywhere near him then… But he certainly had his attention now.

The Behemoth snarled disdainfully at the excessive noise. Like the buzzing of a mosquito next to your ear, begging to be swatted.

"LET'S GET THE PROCEEDINGS OVER WITH ALREADY…" He sighed in deep, deep irritation. Sandy got the distinct feeling that this was an utter waste of the God's time, even if said time was nearly unlimited compared to hers. She got the feeling that bothering him for something like this had been a very unwise thing for her to do, and that the jailer had been an offering that had displeased this god… It understood the circumstances, but it also didn't care. This was just pathetic…

"WE WILL NOW STAND IN JUDGMENT OF THESE TWO SOULS…" The Death-God bellowed out, seemingly to the Shadow-Beasts and Shadow-People in the eternal inky seas below, who thrashed in the black waters, mouths wide and gaping like hungry fish, waiting for something to fall into their desperate maws.

"WHOSOEVER IS FOUND TO HAVE THE LEAST INNOCENT SOUL, THE ONE MOST WEIGHED DOWN BY GUILT AND SIN… SHALL BE CONSUMED." He proclaimed.

Sandy went rigid with shock. Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, and dissolved into acid. "Wait, w-what…?"

Her question would not be answered. The trial had now begun...

In the next instant, gravity fell out from under her, and the foundation she stood upon began to teeter back and forth, up and down. The scales were weighing them…

At first she felt herself dip down, and she was filled with panic. But once the next second had passed, her side of the scales had shot upwards, and stayed firmly suspended, except for a slight shaking. She heard the jailer scream, followed by sickening sounds of eating. Wet crunching, gurgling. His screams didn't last long…

Sandy allowed herself to feel relieved for a single second… Of course! Of course her soul was more innocent than THAT louse!

...But then the croc-God leaned in towards her again, snarling at her, his hot breath hitting her in the face and blowing back her hair. She began to feel fearful and doubtful again... "YOUR PAYMENT IS NOW DUE… SHUGAKI. PRIESTESS..." The way he said that last strange word, it was clear he didn't really want to…

Sandy's eyes went wide. "P-Payment? P-P-Priestess…?"

His expression didn't change. "THIS TIME… I SHALL TAKE ONLY ONE DAY OF LIFE FROM YOU. BUT BE WARNED. IF YOU CALL UPON MY POWER AGAIN, THE PRICE WILL INCREASE…"  
Pain suddenly seized her entire body, shooting through every vein, but most concentrated in the heart. Her heart was slowing, stopping, her blood felt like snail slime underneath her skin! She was DYING-!

Thankfully it was only like that for a couple of seconds, and then she gasped, shooting upward from her place on the floor. Her heart had stopped, for just a second or two, but now her pulse was rushing the life back into her body. In fact, her blood was rushing so fast, it felt like—?

She gasped again, and let out a loud cry as she looked down upon herself. All the veins in her body were sticking out on her skin, engorged with dark purple blood, like a lightning-patterned bruise stretching out all over her body. Her skin vaguely burned, tender where the veins were sticking out. It wasn't as painful as her heart stopping had been by far, it was just… More hideous-looking than anything….

The mysterious girl Ju-Li clearly agreed with that sentiment. She stared at the purple lightning marks stretching all over her skin in shock and horror, unable to even know what to make of it. At the very least, Sandy credited the girl with not running away on the spot when things first started getting crazy…

Still. She was clearly considering that as an option now, especially when Sandy looked up and directly at her…

The Native-raised girl took a step back. And another, until her back was against the wall. "Aah…! Power… ! You, that power…!"

"Please don't be scared…" Sandy tried to implore of her, even though she knew full well that she's be scared senseless if the positions were reversed. She'd just made a man drop dead, and now she was covered in unnatural purple veins. She probably looked like a monster…

Admittedly Ju-Li was having a hard time deciding if that was the case or not. But suddenly, while she was still deciding that, and to her and Sandy's added shock, the body of a silver-colored horse-beast phased through the concrete wall beside them, entering the jail cell as if it were made of thin air.

Sandy was the one to let out a cry this time. "Oh my god, what's going on NOW…?"

But her voice trailed away as the creature walked up to her. She and the other hybrid stared at each other intensely, recognition filling their eyes. A glowing aqua-blue color filled up Sandy's eyes as well, before the color went back to the normal indigo shade it usually was. Within seconds those indigo eyes had filled with tears, but thankfully, unlike all the other tears she had spilled in her life, these were actually tears of joy…

The vali reached in and nuzzled the side of her face, kissing her lavender skin with smacks of silver horse-lips. Sandy just wept, unsure what else to do with all the sadness and joy and relief filling her now.

"Oh my god... You… You're mine! And I'm yours!" Her voice sounded suspended in disbelief, but in truth, Sandy had always wanted to believe in something as strongly as she did now... So she did. She gave in to the deeply spiritual –sureness- she suddenly felt, for the first time in her life. "We're like… Like soul-mates, aren't we? Not exactly like that, but, we belong together, don't we? I don't know how or why I know this, but I just KNOW, more surely than I've ever known anything… We're like sisters, like twins, and we're gonna be together for as long as we both live, right…?"

She sounded hopeful, but scared too. After the betrayal she had just experienced at the hands of the man who raised her as a father, and her own blood-brother, a true sister was something she needed more than anything, more than ever…

But the hybrid was quick to assure her with a sloppy lick to the side of the face, making her laugh. No… This was no faithless friend. Their love would be eternal, lasting even after death…

Ju-Li stood to the side, watching them… With envy. She could not deny it, at least not to her own heart. They looked so happy together. She wanted what they had, so badly it hurt…

The pain only doubled, though, as guilt was added to the heap of emotions she was feeling, directed at her from the vali-hybrid. She should be happy for them, the hybrid told her, not envious. She was being selfish…

She hung her head and waited until Sandy finally finished hugging and kissing on her newly found Eternal Friend, her Destined, her Fated. She waited, feeling like an unnecessary and awkward little thing, like a fly on the wall or a pebble on the ground next to this grand, predetermined meeting, between souls of incredible powers…

But finally Sandy turned her attention back to her, if only briefly. "Oh… So um, how are we gonna get out of here? We still got time, but barely. We need to really book it, just grab what we need and get going—Um. Wait. What's that, Silver?"

She stopped. Ju-Li was left in silence, as the conversation going on between Sandy and the vali-hybrid who was apparently now named 'Silver', could only be directly heard by the two of them. If a spirit animal felt inclined, it could share general feelings and ideas with others, but the language between two Fated, was known only to them…

Sandy at least spoke aloud for her to understand, knowing she couldn't. "She's saying… We should actually make a scene. Confess to killing him, let people know about my power, let them know the truth… She's also saying that you should stop being jealous—Envious? Jealous, envious, whatever, she says stop being jealous about us, that she's pretty sure you've got your own Fated and that you'll meet them in your own time if you remain worthy, and that for now you should stick with me because it would be beneficial for both of us – You could learn some stuff from me, and I could learn some stuff from you. Also she says it's a good idea to keep another human around so I don't start to think I've gone crazy…"

Thankfully, even though Ju-Li could only understand about half the words used, Silver projected the gist of the message directly into her mind, and heart. She had her own Fated out there, somewhere? She wasn't sure how the hybrid knew such a thing or why she should believe her, but she did. It lightened her heart and gave her hope, so she sniffled and nodded, determined to do whatever she could to help. It was obvious by now that these two had an important destiny ahead of them. Since Ju-Li had nothing to do and nowhere to go until her 'most wanted' sister showed up somewhere, it just made sense to take the vali's suggestion and stick with the people who could potentially keep her alive until then.  
So she nodded in affirmation. "Yes. I go with you…"

Sandy nodded back. "Alright then, if that's settled, then it's time to start packin'! Look around this place for anything we can take with us. Weapons, food, supplies. Anything that can help us survive in the wild, we're taking it! I mean I know stealing is bad, but they're already trying to kill me for supposedly stealing a horse, so... I might as well at least actually steal something, right? Huh, what's that, Silver?"

The horse-hybrid simply shook her head at Sandy, but apparently there was a whole conversation for her to transcribe just from that simple motion. "You say… Stealing isn't that bad, as long as you don't steal from people in need, only those who have more than they need? You say I should get used to stealing, because you want to use your powers to steal from the rich and give to the poor? Pffft!" Sandy suddenly broke off there, bursting into scandalized laughter. "W-Whaaat? That's crazy! But… That's SO cool… You know what? Hell with it! I'm in!"

Earl and Dusty had been teaching her all her life that stealing and killing was bad. That if she wanted to be considered 'good', she had to live a moral life and find a man to marry and bear him children. Well you know what? Considering how moral those two had been the last few days…Nah. Them and their plan could shove it. She had her own plans now...  
"Okay, so…" Sandy began again, in more ways than one, looking around the room for everything of use, for anything except that dead body on the ground… She stepped over it and out of the jail cell quickly, motioning for Ju-Li to follow her. "That canteen, and his coat, hanging there on the chair… Can you get those for me please, Ju-Li?"

By pointing at each thing the language-limited girl got the gist of what was needed of her, and while she began to collect those things, Sandy knelt down by the floor, barely looking just to know where to reach for, and took the gun the man had left behind…

"Hey…" She called to the other girl, holding the gun out timidly by the handle with two fingers, making it clear she had no intention to use it aggressively against her. "You know what this is, right?"

"Yes..." She replied immediately, and very, very grimly.

Sandy nodded seriously back at her. "Right. Well. It's best to take it. I promise I'll keep it where you can see it at all times, and only protect you with it…"

Ju-Li understood, but also thought it was a little unfair. Despite all her incredible power, Sandy would also be keeping the gun, the most powerful and deadly weapon… True, Ju-Li didn't know HOW to use the gun and Sandy did, but still, but she was really starting to feel very small and powerless next to this girl…

But… That was fine. That was fair… Ju-Li found her father's dagger then, in one of the desk drawers, and quickly slipped it into her belt. She also found another multi-use pocket knife, and nicked that too. Other than that there wasn't much else of use lying around. Most of the weapons were kept at the sheriff and the mayor's house, so they'd have to make do with what little they had.

Sandy then turned to her Fated friend, "So what should we do now?"

They stared at each other for a second or two, then Sandy slowly nodded, "Okay… Not gonna lie, that sounds crazy! But, okay…"

Then she turned to Ju-Li, took the man's leather coat from her, laid it over the vali-hybrid's back like a makeshift saddle. She was about to climb up onto the desk and then onto the horse's back, but then the creature turned back to Sandy, and said something else.

Sandy seemed surprised, but quickly accepting. "I… Okay..."

She looked back at Ju-Li. "Hey. Can I see your knife, for just a minute? I promise I'll give it right back."

Understandably reluctant, Ju-Li hesitated a moment before slowly passing her Haga's dagger. "Very important…" She mumbled as she did so.

Sandy nodded in understanding, and apologized for the intrusion. "Sorry, I understand. And thanks. I won't mess it up. I'll give it right back." She confirmed again before taking the knife. As soon as she had it within her grasp in one hand, she grasped her entire lock of hair like a makeshift ponytail, and began to cut and hack at it until the flowing tresses were no more. Then, bunching the hair together, Sandy shoved the clump into her pocket. It had been part of her so long, it seemed wrong to just leave it on the dirty floor.

"The whole reason I got thrown in here in the first place was because some asshole caught hold of my hair…" Sandy explained as she handed the dagger back. "Well, they can't do that now that I've cut it all off! Well, almost all…"

Indeed not. For the once long and lustrous golden hair that hung down her back like Rapunzel's locks were no more. But the cute short bob seemed to fit her just as well, and she seemed quite pleased with it herself. She inspected it in a nearby mirror, for just a moment. "Huh… A little breezy now, but… I like it!"

She put a smile on her slightly doubtful-looking reflection, but then quickly remembered that they were 'on the clock', when she peeked at the nearest window and saw the slightest sliver of morning light passing through from underneath the blinds. "Oh, crud… I guess we're already out of time. Alright gals. You ready to do this…?"

Even a smile couldn't hide the doubt in her face this time, but thankfully Silver at least didn't need a pep talk. She confidently shook her mane, and rubbed her nose on Sandy's cheek to reassure her.

"You're right…" Sandy mumbled, nuzzling back. "We can do this. I can do this. Now that I have you…"

That said, Sandy placed one more kiss on her nose, then climbed on top of the desk and onto the hybrid's back. She tied the arms of the coat around her neck, making some crude reins to hold on to. Then she looked back at Ju-Li, and offered her a hand to climb on too.

Ju-Li looked up at the proffered purple palm, hesitating for just a few seconds. It wasn't just that she was scared, or that she doubted or distrusted Sandy, those were minor things. The biggest problem was that it was too great an honor for her. This girl was either the last or one of the last of the most sacred tribes on the planet, riding the rarest and most sacred of valis. Was a wretch like her really even worthy enough to accept such an honorable undertaking?

Probably not… But if her father were in her place, she knew he would have accepted without a thought, and knowing that, Ju-Li felt compelled to accept in his place. She could never erase the harm she had done to him. But perhaps at least in this way, she could make her father feel proud from the Other Side. To feel like his sacrifice for her had been worth it…

She only had this life in the first place thanks to the Natives… It was only right to dedicate her life to helping them in any way she could.

So she took her hand, and climbed on behind her.

…Was it her imagination, or did it somehow felt a little taller from where she was sitting now…?

Sandy certainly felt a lot bigger and prouder, sitting with her back straight up. In fact, this little jailhouse was starting to feel real cramped now, too small to contain the newfound sense of confidence and self-respect rising up in her. Well, that could only mean one thing then… It was time to go.

She barely patted the hybrid's neck, but the creature understood her will immediately, and went off like a bullet from a gun. Right through the walls of the jail, right through the group of men who were seconds away from going inside and discovering the scene. Among them were the sheriff, and the executioner. They had Dusty with them too, with his broken arm cuffed mercilessly in front of him.

All three men lost their balance from the shock of seeing but not feeling a nearly full-grown horse pass right through their bodies. Despite none of them being harmed, the small crowd that had gathered to see her execution quickly dispersed down the middle as the vali-hybrid ran right through them and towards the gallows.

Then, to the shock and terror of those present, Sandy's vali suddenly ran upright, along the pole holding the noose that was intended for Sandy, completely vertical and unbound by gravity.

Roy was back at the bar still recovering, and watching the girls. But Li had come to the execution, bearing a sign that read, "FREE HER! SHE'S INNOCENT!" There was also two other people holding similar signs – The husband and wife who ran the local library in town. Their signs read "MOB JUSTICE IS AN INJUSTICE!" and "SHE'S JUST A GIRL, NOT A WITCH!"  
That last sign got dropped pretty quickly…

She couldn't really blame them for that, considering what she had just done, and what she was about to do and say…

Standing on top of the beam that held the nooses, Silver shook her head at the people below, and snorted at them, apparently shaming them. Earl had decided not to attend, but Sandy took a solid three seconds to stare at Dusty, who was gawking back at her, speechless.

Which was fine. Sandy had her own speech to give now. Staring down at all the people who had always looked down upon her, Sandy felt a surge of power and pride rush through her. Emboldened, she opened her mouth and let the truth fly out, her eyes almost as dark as death. "ALL OF YOU, HEAR ME NOW! Unworthy countrymen, and disloyal kin! I have lived all my life hiding from you, and it is my destiny to continue to hide as long as you deny me the right to exist freely as I am! But know that you no longer have the power to keep me down! I have the power over my own freedom now, and I choose freedom from you! MY LIFE IS MY OWN NOW AND FOREVERMORE, DO YOU HEAR ME?! And you, you live your own lives in peace, for if you don't, I'll do to you what I did to that so-called man I left behind in my cell! I -KILLED- HIM! YOU HEAR?! I ADMIT IT, I KILLED HIM! With magical powers that I've been hiding all my life! I could have used them to HELP you, but since you shunned me just because of what I look like, I'm going to help HER," Obviously everyone knew she meant the girl behind her on the mystical horse, "AND OTHER DECENT PEOPLE INSTEAD! GOOD RIDDANCE TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WOULD REMAIN UNWORTHY AND INDECENT! And... To those few of you, who have true love in your hearts and true courage in your souls… Farewell."

She was addressing them all, occasionally glancing to a few other people either accusingly or in sympathy, but she was looking at Dusty more than any of them. His eyes were locked on hers, and she kept glancing back at her brother, taking in the emotions he was sending her through his expressions. Sorrow. Confusion. Fear. Regret. Pleading. Hope. Fragile, fragile hope…

A man began to raise a rifle, having had enough of her mouth now.

…Time to go.

"HYAH, SILVER-GIRL! HIGH UP AND AWAY!" Sandy called out (not sure why, it just really felt right to say that for some reason) as her proud best-beast-friend did just that, jumping up and beginning to glide away, somewhat like flying, a little like floating, suspended in the air, only the gods knew how, Ju-Li and all the rest of the townspeople thought, since the beast had no wings… But that was because only Sandy could see them. Those beautiful but more than slightly frightening wings… Frightening, because they were made of the same transparent crystal-like material as the scales of judgment from that other world… That… Hungry-Dead World…

The first man to raise his rifle and a few others tried to shoot at her, but their bullets just went right through all three of them. Quickly after, the silver vali-horse willed the wind and dust to blow in their faces behind her and she sped into the distance, disappearing from the view of her stunned and envious attackers in a split second.

Leaving everyone there knowing exactly who she meant good riddance to, and who she meant farewell to.

All except Dusty…

Splitting the wind as it rushed past their faces and through their hair, the silvery steed sped on into the horizon. The rising sun had just begun to hover above the skyline, when suddenly Sandy, who had been very quiet and pensive so far, gasped in shock. "OH MY GOD, I FORGOT-!"

She barely even had to look down at the top of the horses' head and start to plead, "Can we-?"

As soon as she made it that far, the hybrid had already turned around, soaring around in a half-circle with speed and elegance. Ju-Li held on tighter to her waist, her eyes wide in amazement at the smooth aerial ride. It made all the difference, for the Vali to be with her true Destined…

It did confuse her though, why they were going back the way they came. But they didn't stop when they got to the town-square, the vali just rushed past it in an almost invisible blur. They didn't slow down until they came upon Sandy's former home, where the vali proceeded to silently phase them through the walls and into Sandy's old room. There Sandy quickly dismounted the steed, which nearly filled up all the free space in her tiny abode, and rushed right to her bed.

Once there, she lifted up the mattress, and immediately let out a deep sigh of relief. What she had been hoping would still be there, a small collection of books, was still present, untouched. Hands shaking, she took the pillowcase off of her pillow, and carefully slipped all of the books inside. Then she climbed back onto the steed's back, and phased back out of the room.

Knowing where to go next, the vali took them there in barely more than the blink of an eye – The town library. Specifically, the basement underneath the library. That's where Sandy had instructed her to take them next…

The library and bookstore upstairs, open to the public, was in good order. Everything was clearly marked and easy to find. In the basement, the books weren't even kept on shelves. They were hidden underneath the floorboards and then further hidden under rugs and sacks of things, and in secret panels in the walls, hollowed out behind pictures and paintings…

Leaving her companions behind, Sandy climbed up the stairs and to the door to the basement, where she knocked politely several times until she got an answer, from the owners of the library, and the couple that had supported her with their signs earlier. An elderly couple with dark hair and eyes, the two of them were named Tam and Tod.

Tod was a rather bony old man, just slightly taller than Tam, who was quite short. Tam was a slightly plump but still 'little' old lady. The people of the town had only gone easy on them even after trying to show her support, because they were so frail and helpless, and were always known for having big, caring hearts. They could do nothing to help Sandy, and had done nothing but helped anyone else in that town all their lives. To prosecute them would be like prosecuting your own grandparents.

But then, the townspeople didn't know about the secret bond Sandy and the old librarians had… Only Earl knew anything at all about that, and he hadn't attended her would-be hanging. Truth was, on a few rare occasions in her childhood, Earl had entrusted Tod and Tam with watching Sandy for an hour or two while he went about business with his family. And during that time, Tod and Tam had introduced Sandy to something they had only shown to a very rare few before…

Their secret, forbidden library…

Now, Sandy had always loved a bit of gossip. Her ears were always open for something interesting or juicy being passed around. But she was very well aware of the importance of a secret, and knew when exactly to keep her mouth shut, too. And for the sake of her precious Secret Books, the books that had kept her sanity intact over the years, Sandy had guarded the secret as if her own life depended on it.

Which it literally did, and not just because she would die of boredom without them. After reading a book just once, the characters within it would become so dear to her, that the thought of betraying them was as incomprehensible to her and betraying her own family. Not to mention, Tam and Tod had plainly told her, that if anyone found out about the books, it would mean certain death for all involved. To tell her family about the books would be a betrayal itself, so she had kept their existence as secretive as the knowledge of her powers.

Now, however, there was no way she could continue to hide them. It would only be a matter of time before Earl found her stash, and he would know at least enough to know he ought to burn them for the safety of his family. And Sandy couldn't live with herself if she let that happen, so although it pained her to say goodbye to her friends, she knew it was better than letting them be burned like witches…

Which was why she was now handing the sack over to the two of them, her eyes starting to well up with tears from missing her friends already. "Tam, Tod… I have to go now. I have to go far away, for a very long time… I know you wouldn't want these to fall into the wrong hands, so… I'm returning them, now…"

The rules of the secret library were different from a regular library… Normally the library allowed you to borrow four books at a time. Sandy had nine books in the sack, which she could not bring herself to examine, or else she really would sob…

Sandy had never officially checked the books out. They were given to her to take home by Tam and Tod, one or two at a time, when she was allowed to be watched by them. She was given them with the stipulation that she hide and protect them with her life. As long as she promised to do so all her life, then she could keep the books all of her life. 

Essentially, in order to read the forbidden books, you had to become a Forbidden Library yourself. Which might seem like a lot of pressure to put on a child and a huge risk to take for yourself when discovery could mean execution. And it was. But Tam and Tod had gladly taken that risk, saving Sandy's pitiful boring childhood life at the risk of their own. They had done it, because although protecting the books themselves was important… More important than that, was passing on the stories within…

This shared secret purpose and the wonderful, amazing stories they had allowed her to borrow, which she read and reread a thousand times with her glowing eyes, in the middle of the night, so she would never be discovered – They kept Sandy alive over the years. They restored her sanity and gave her hope. She just had to keep them completely secret from everyone… Which was hard sometimes, especially when a really moving story made her emotional and she couldn't say why. But she knew the others weren't the kind of people who could understand…

But now… She couldn't continue to keep them safe, when she was constantly in danger, and exposed to the elements. It would be irresponsible to try. Either by rain or by fire, the books would be destroyed if she didn't give them back to them now…

The thought made her so sad, but she tried not to outright cry. All the same, tears kept slipping down her face. Even without looking at the books, she could see them in her mind, remembering the most vivid parts, missing them so much already… The thought of never reading them again, how could she bear it…?

Seeing how distressed she was becoming, Tam reached over and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "There, there… Settle down, Sandy. Take a minute to calm yourself. You can stay and rest here a few hours before you go, can't you?"

Tod nodded along with his wife, taking the sack Sandy held out and putting it aside, then taking Sandy's fleshy purple hand in his wrinkled and shaking palms, patting her weakly. "Yes, yes, share one last meal with us, will you Sandy? Hmm?"

Silver informed her telepathically that it would be the best idea. That she was tired from using her powers, and could use a break before using them again. Sandy understood, and nodded back to them in gratitude. "Thank you two so much…"

The two girls sat down on a nearby rug while Tam and Tod went back upstairs, and began to prepare a small feast. It was nothing too extravagant, but they picked a little bit of everything from their garden to throw into the wok. There were several potatoes in different colors – White, purple, blue and red. Then there was some green and yellow squash, green and orange tomatoes, purple peppers and some peppery pink pea-beans. They couldn't afford to butcher one of their few animals for meat, that would be too suspicious, but they gathered some eggs and scrambled them into the vegetables. Fluffy yellow chicken eggs next to equally fluffy but starkly blue lizard eggs, mixing here and there to make green eggs.

Sandy savored the aroma as well as the color for a full minute before taking her first bite. She wanted to remember this meal. If she was to die, this was the meal she would remember as her Last Meal, not some damn hard bread, mushy apple and stale water…

Mmm, no, this was… Spicy! She loved Tam's cooking! She always begged her to make her something whenever she visited! Teresa was a good cook too, and so was Dusty, but like most other people in the town, they didn't like things too spicy. Not Sandy! She could never get enough! Why did everybody else have to be so boring with their food?!

Thankfully Ju-Li was also digging into her food, so it looked like her new traveling companion had similar tastes to her.

Tam remarked upon it gratefully, "Oooh, she likes my curry seasoning too! Are you perhaps like me and Tod, descended from the people of the land of Asia?"

Ju-Li looked up from her plate as she felt their attention centered at her, but confused by most of those words, "Ah…? A-zee-a…?"

"She was raised by natives since she was a little girl." Sandy took over for her. "She doesn't even speak very much English, so I doubt she remembers where her parents descended from. But she says she's looking for her sister..."

"Oh…" Tam replied with a nod. "I see… I just thought she looked a little like me and my family… But it's not a big deal. I may be descended from Asia, but I only know a bit more than the average person does about the old countries. Most people know at least the major continents, with very stereotypical knowledge about each. The countries and states within though are usually only remembered by either the rich and usually racist nobles who like to brag about their lineage among themselves, as if this knowledge was earned and special only to them, not taken from all the others... Besides them only a few other enforcers are taught the words to look out for commoners saying them who shouldn't. I can't go into the details of the culture now I'm afraid, you haven't the time and much more to learn first, but I was just thinking you looked like you might be at least part Asian. But knowing exactly what kind, Chinese, Korean, Japanese - I hesitate to guess that far, and besides, it probably won't help much in finding your kin, I'm afraid, since most people don't remember those specifics..."

Sandy nodded along with her, "Right. Tam says my father's ancestors came from a place called America, and before that Europe… But I couldn't tell you where exactly they lived. Could be Paris, or could be Kansas! Oh… What I wouldn't give to see Paris the way it was back then, with the Notre Dame still intact… Heck, I think I'd even be happy just to visit Kansas! Then I could say 'Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore'! Except I WOULD be there!"

She laughed. But it wasn't really a happy sound, and the others caught on to that right away. Tod cleared his voice after taking a very small bite of food, "Hmm-hmm… Sandy, are you really sure about leaving the books behind? It sounds like you would miss them an awful lot…"

Sandy looked up at him, and looked at him honestly. She did not look sure. She looked sad.

Silver nudged her, restoring some hope in her. Ju-Li looked at her curiously, so she shyly went on, "I would miss them… Of course, how could I not…"

She hadn't wanted to look at them again before she left, at first. But now she reconsidered. It was too sad. She couldn't do to her book-friends what her mother had been able to do to her and Dusty. She DID understand better now, though! She would give anything to help Silver! Because Silver would do anything to help her in what she wanted…

So, why not share her precious things with her new friends, help them understand what was so important about them… She got up and retrieved the sack, untied the knot and took each book out carefully. There were nine books in all, and Sandy laid them out so that the cover of each one could be seen. Then she began to point to them one at a time.

They were all her favorites, so she couldn't say she could begin with her favorite. But she began with a most important character to her heart. A girl who doubted her loveliness and nearly everything else about herself, but was so beautiful and full of such courage… "Anne of Green Gables…" Sandy announced, touching the green paperback that bore the image of Anne and her adopted kin.

Perhaps in another time, people would have thought of such stories as merely stories. But to Sandy, Anne of Green Gables wasn't just a boring book you were forced to read in school, or even a delightful tale you enjoyed at home but didn't take too seriously. To Sandy, Anne of Green Gables was more like Joan of Arc, or Cleopatra. She was a more like a legend than fiction…

Tam had told her all of the books given to her except the dictionary were only fiction, and she knew what that word meant. But Sandy didn't altogether believe that was true in her own heart, she couldn't believe it. At least not for all of them. Stories like Alice's and Dorothy's were probably at least a little embellished, true... But it had been so long! What if someone wrote down the story of a real girl named Anne, and people just forgot it was fiction? And what if there had been a real deformed man named Quasimodo, and some poor beautiful girl named Esmeralda really had been prosecuted? Their stories just seemed so real to her, the words bore such vivid detail and launched such emotions! How could it not be real…?

She pointed to that book next, a dark black book with a grim image of a deformed man carrying a wispy girl up the sides of a very tall castle-like building. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame, or in French, Notre Dame de Paris…" She only knew the French that this very book contained, but she felt very sophisticated for it, even if she had never before been able to speak them out loud.

Next she moved on to two books at a time, pointing at one and then the other. The first was a blue book with a child-like image of a yellow-haired boy standing on a rock in space. "The Little Prince." Sandy told Silver and Ju-Li, before moving to his counterpart, an olive-colored book bearing the image of a little girl exiting a horse-drawn carriage. "And, The Little Princess…"

Ah, Sara Crewe! What lovely lessons of the heart had been learned from that sweet and humble girl! Sandy was so glad things had ended up well for her, unlike poor Esmeralda, whom Sandy had cried over and been very depressed about for days, even despite Tams insistence that it too was a work of fiction…

Next she moved to another two, first a blue book with the image of a girl in a blue dress at some kind of strange tea-party, with a hare and a mouse in attendance. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass…" Both stories were contained in the one book.

The second book was black, with a picture of a little girl comforting a crying lion-beast. This one, Sandy pronounced, was, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz…"

The last two books had animals central to the covers. On one, there was a pig, and a girl, with other common barn animals surrounding them, including a goose and a rat, with a large spider-web. "Charlotte's Web." Sandy always really liked the stories where animals could talk. She felt a little guilty enjoying her bacon from time to time, but it was such a rare treat to get meat, she could never bring herself to turn it down either…

And last but far from the least, was a book bearing many creatures. There were strange and fantastic beasts, bugs and imps, including a lion-like dragon, and a boy riding it. "The Neverending Story..."

Some nights, it really did seem like a neverending story, too… At least until the light of dawn came up. Behind her glowing eyes that alien world would unfold night after night, reread again and again until Bastian was almost as familiar and dear to her as her own brother... He reminded her of him, with his cowardice at the start of the story, and Sandy dearly wished that someday her brother would find true courage like Bastian had, too…

There was one more book, but it was not a story. It was a pocket dictionary, one that was banned because it contained the forbidden words. The word that described the school that Anne of Green Gables attended. The word that described the powerful female beings that Alice encountered in the strange other worlds she visited. That powerful, odd, ancient, alien word, never spoken in public on this world… Queen.

"Merriam-Webster Pocket Dictionary." She finally concluded, with a deep sigh. I wish I could keep them, but—"

Tam cut her off there, "Wait, Sandy! Before you go on, just listen. I know it's not fair to ask you this, but please consider it – Since you have these powers, and this newfound horsey of yours has powers…?"

Sandy butted back in for a moment as Silver put a comment forth in her mind. "She says we can call her a 'Vali-ho' or 'Vali-hoo'. Short for Vali-horse. That's what she is…"

Tam nodded eagerly, finding it very fascinating and taking in as much knowledge as she could, while she could. "Since your new vali-hoo has these powers, do you think you could, if you cannot protect them long-term, at least try to take them to the secret library contained within Sancta-Nova City, by the Crescent Capes, far up north? Just wait and I'll draw you a map of where to find the library in the city. But you must keep this map hidden at all times! Study it only when alone, never let it out of your grasp! Otherwise keep it nestled between the pages of the books. I know it's a lot to ask, but trust me, it will be worth your while! In exchange for information given, the librarians will allow you to stay as long as you like and read what they have. If you'd be so kind as to do us this favor, and tell a delegate from the library to come collect our banned books before we die, to make sure they stay safe, we would like to give you a few extra things… It's not much, but well…"

Getting up, Tam went upstairs and collected a few things, then came back with them wrapped up in her shawl. She laid them out for Sandy on the floor when she came back, revealing a children's book of ABC's, a miniature chalk board for practicing letters, three boxes of chalk sticks, and a book about survival tips in the wild. They also packed her a bit of extra food and water. All of this she placed in a bag made of tarp, which would protect the contents from crossing bodies of water and rare bouts of rain.

Sandy accepted it all with a very low and grateful bow. "I will try my best to take these to the Hidden Library... I am sure I can make it there with Silver's help."

They bowed back to her, and to Silver and Ju-Li, the last of which accepted it most awkwardly. "We have faith in you... All of you." Tam told her with a tear in her eye. Tod was also misting up, and hung his head low.

Climbing atop the silver hybrid's back, Sandy bowed once more to the few of her last true friends from this place. Then quick as a long-leaping lady-beetle in flight, her form was gone, along with that of her newfound companions.

It was high noon by then, but no one could see them. Not even in broad daylight, not at the nearly neck-breaking speeds they were going. Well, Sandy assumed they were going 'break neck speeds'. Surely if her steed did not have the miraculous ghostly powers it did, it would break someone's neck if they were unlucky enough to get in the way of their wild ride? But for now at least, nothing that came between them and the horizon could stop them.

Nothing except for the eventual return of thirst, hunger and exhaustion, which returned shortly after the fall of night. At that time Silver found a very high tree and climbed to the top of it. In this tree there were only some small skittish monkeys and birds, nothing that would harm them. And the much more dangerous creatures shouldn't be able to see or even smell them, let alone reach them. They would have to be satisfied with the scurrying armadillo-pikas rolling around the ground looking for caterpillars and beetles.

Once settled on a sturdy branch, Silver began to munch on leaves while the girls sat next to each other in silence. It was... Weird. They were total strangers. After all they'd been through that day, one might suppose they ought to be as thick as thieves, laughing about their near-misses. Instead there was a palpable air of awkwardness between them, compounded by the fact that they still couldn't share more than a few words.

It didn't currently seem worth the effort to summon speech forth. Both girls seemed lost in their own heads for a while. But finally, about an hour later, when the moon was high in the sky, a new sound broke the tranquil munching of leaves and chirping of birds and insects. Ju-Li had been about to doze off, but she quickly tuned in to those sounds. Crying...

It was Sandy. She had her forehead pressed to her knees, her frame shaking...

Ju-Li let a few respectful moments pass before gently prodding, "...S-Sad...?"

Sandy forgave her for the much-too-simple description of her sorrows, but didn't respond to her inquiry right away. The other girl probably wouldn't understand anyways. Her words, or her troubles...

Still, the smaller girl persisted. She had caused so much misery lately, she just wanted to make -someone- feel better, and who better than the girl who just saved her life? Her destined worried over her too, but she was famished from carrying them so swiftly all day, and couldn't get break away from fortifying herself just yet. Plus unlike Ju-Li, she could sense that Sandy needed a little space right now, too.

But Ju-Li went on to tap on her shoulder gently, but insistently. If this girl didn't accept her help, she might break down crying herself, if she couldn't distract herself from the still-fresh pain of her foster father's death and her mother's terrible grief... "You sad? I help...?"

Sandy just shook her head. "I'm... Not sure you can..." She replied honestly at first, but then relented. "Not unless you know where to find a new family...?"

"Find... Family..." Ju-Li replied back to her slowly. "I... I find family, yes? You can find family too? Right, yes? You can find new family, and I can find sister? We can find them all, us two? Yes?"

Her lavender companion stared at her a while. Everything that had happened the last few days was completely crazy. But the little woman's simple speech helped to slow and calm her down, if just a little. And it was nice to concern yourself with someone else and their well-being sometimes, when you had so much reason to worry for your own. Both girls felt rather like that now.

"I think I will do that. I will find a new family out there. But also, I think... I think I should try to seek out my old family too. My first family..."

She asked her silver destined without speech if she knew where to go, to get to those strange mesas from her memories of where her mother died. She didn't know why, but she had the strongest urge to revisit them, at least once, before starting her grand journey. Perhaps it was because she had never gotten to really pay her mother any last respects, and it was only because of her mother that she had made it this far. She suddenly felt the need to place a flower or food or some other token on her mother's grave, tell her she was sorry and that she loved her. Ask for her protection and guidance. Then she could begin this journey anew...

Silver replied that she knew the way. She would take them in the early morning, right at dawn.

Sandy supposed she should inform her companion of where they were going. But she still needed to teach her how to talk... Time to see where they were at. "Hey, Ju-Li... You remembered those numbers pretty good. How about the alphabet? Do you remember the alphabet? A, B, C's?"

Ju-Li's face lit up with recognition. "Yes, ABC! I remember, ABC!"

Since she said so, Sandy began to lead her into the song, "Okay - A, B, C...?"

Ju-Li remembered the tune, and that she was supposed to 'sing along'. But the patterns of the letters were harder to recall than the numbers. Oh, what came after the C again...?  
She began uncertainly, "Um... A... B... C... Ehh, Eee...? A, B, C... E? E, F, G? H... A, P, P, Y... X, Y, Z? Next time won't you sing with me!" She concluded with a shy smile. Certainly that had to be at least half of it...?

Sandy snorted. She certainly had her work cut out for her. "Alright, let's practice a little bit before the moonlight ducks behind the leaves of the trees again. After that we get some shut-eye, and in the morning we'll start fresh again..."

They'd still be strangers for a while yet. But Sandy was pretty sure that by the time they learned how to talk, they'd at least know what else to say.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(( Still working on chapter 5, so this is what I got so far! In the next chapters to come we meet back up with Dusty on his quest to find Teresa, see how Teresa is surviving aboard the treacherous Donna Fortuna, and visit Dani's resting place with Sandy and Ju-Li. After that, abused housewife Nelly makes a reappearance after escaping from Hank in the confusion Sandy caused, and finds herself starving in the wild... Until she comes across the Lone Pearl Cowgirl in the flesh and blood, and her femme fatale generals, becoming one of them herself... Are you guys ready for these badass ladies? ;D Please comment or kudo if so! ))


	5. Faithful Phil and the Martyred Mother

Dusty had never been in more pain in his life, the last few days... He literally had lost every single person and thing in his entire life, nearly. The only things with him now were the few spiteful trinkets Earl had left him, and the white stallion, which still stomped by his side, letting him lean on him and even occasionally ride him, although Dusty knew better by now than to call him his own. The horse could run off and leave him any time, especially in the shape he was in. But for whatever reason, so far, he hadn't...

In fact if anything he seemed to actually be protecting him, supporting him... Not outwardly, not obviously, but just his presence alone felt like a lifeline at the moment... It was a dumb naive belief but it was just about the only thing keeping him going on. Maybe if this amazing animal kept by his side, he could somehow find his way to Teresa again and get her back. Maybe he could even somehow find Sandy before she managed to get herself killed. Maybe he could somehow put just some of the pieces of his broken family back together. Somehow...

Until then, it was gonna be rough... Wild grub along the way between his former home and the next oasis big enough to support a town or city was scarce. But that was fine, Dusty couldn't bring himself to eat much. The guilt made his stomach feel like a stone...

All the same, he knew he wasn't going to heal on an empty stomach, either, and the horse kept placing tidbits next to him on their breaks. Nuts, mushrooms and dirt-covered root-vegetables covered in horse slobber wasn't exactly appetizing, but Dusty was a well-mannered man for the most part, and his desire not to offend his last friend in the world, especially after he'd nearly betrayed him, was greater than his desire not to eat horse slobber.

Anyways nobody was looking...

"Ew, are you eating that...? But... It's got horse slobber all over it..."

A vaguely weird-looking, skinny and oddly knobby-shaped young man, who otherwise looked rather similar to Dusty, with almost the exact same shade of dark blond hair and sea-blue eyes, stepped out from behind a tree. He'd been gathering mushrooms, if the basket full of them at his side was any indication. 

His soft voice was disgusted, of course, but he also sounded a little impressed. "I like horses a lot too, but even I wouldn't do that... I suppose, unless I was wandering through the wilderness for a few days, all banged up - You don't look like you're in a very good way, if you don't mind me sayin' so... In any case, you're closer to my family farm than any town, so I advise you to come with me there and get some strength in ya. What do ya say, will ya?"

Dustin quickly handed the mostly brown carrot back to his horse, who ate it himself while Dusty patted him briefly in thanks. "No offense, Knight, but I'm gonna have what he's having." He then gave the boy the first smile he'd mustered in days. "Thank you, friend. My name is Dustin, and your generous hospitality is most welcome."

The boy laughed. "I'm Phillip! But don't praise our accomadations too quickly. I can get you a plate at the table, but I can't say it will be full. Only that it won't have horse slobber on it!"

Dusty couldn't quite bring himself to laugh back, but he smiled a little wider and nodded. "Thankfully my stallion friend has surprisingly sweet breath, if you'd believe it..."

Phillip made a face. "No, I don't believe it! But I believe your stomach made you believe it by now! Come on, lets get you back into civilization. Well, halfway there!"

Getting Knight for him without being asked, Phillip led the horse by a hand on his neck, stroking his ivory-white hair. Knight would occasionally reach over and nuzzle his head or nip at his hair, but never tried to pull it. That was definitely new... Knight liked this guy... Knight hardly ever liked anyone, just like Dani's old horse Dina...

Phillip talked a bit on the way to his family home, handing Dusty a few mushrooms he cleaned on his shirt along the way to keep his stomach from grumbling too loud. "Just so yanno, me and my family, we're kinda odd... Kind of a 'rag-tag bunch' as they call it. Heck, we're just weird." He pretty shamelessly just admitted. "Like my mom. She could see good enough when she was younger, but over the last few years she's gone almost blind. She's adapted pretty good but still has some trouble adjusting and makes a few mistakes here and there. Like one time? She didn't smell-check before cutting up what she thought was another apple, but was really an apple-shaped red potato. That... Was not her best pie... But hey, it's ma, so if she accidentally makes an apple-potato pie, no big deal! Ya learn to like it!"

Dusty couldn't help but think back to Nelly and Hank. It would definitely be a big deal for Nelly if she ever made a mistake like that... He also couldn't help but remember a woman in the community a few years back, beaming with pride for months as her belly grew bigger and bigger... Only to be absolutely forlorn and inconsolable afterwards, hardly ever coming out of the house, and with no baby to show for it, because it had been born 'blind, deaf and dumb'... Dusty wasn't sure how you could tell an infant was 'dumb' but in any case, Earl mentioned that a few of the other men in town had helped the father 'take care of it' shortly after it's birth, with no mention if it had ever been a son or daughter, because apparently it didn't matter either way... Not really thinking about it, he inquired, "Is that why you guys live all the way out here? To keep your ma safe, since she can't see...?"

Phillip shrugged, looking on ahead and not back at him while he answered pretty naturally, "Nope. We live out here to keep my Pa safe, because he's missing an arm and gets really nervous around large amounts of people, though he's real nice and calm when it's just a few. Stuff like that just happens to some of us, sometimes... Just like my little brother was born with perfect sight, but unable to hear! So don't be surprised if he doesn't respond to ya if ya say something, because he's completely deaf. Heh, we kinda got a joke in the family that god must be making someone else and needed extra parts and had to borrow some from us! My pa's missing arm though... He wasn't born like that, just so yanno... Just so ya don't gotta ask him..." He mentioned pointedly, now briefly looking back at Dustin. "He was working at one of those damn soulless factories when he was a kid - Didn't even choose to do it, they enslave people! They snatched him right off the street and chained an arm to a pipe and told him to work with the other one! Well instead, he used his free arm to cut the other one off! Said if they wanted an arm to work for them they could have that one and see if it worked for them! After that he ran away from the big city and never went back. And I must suggest, if you have any plans of going to one of the big cities, heal up first and watch yourself when you get there! There's a slaver in every shadow!"

Dusty nodded gratefully, and soon enough they came upon a little plot of farmland, most notably surrounded by a natural fence made of tall and sturdy cactuses planted in a row, squaring in the property, with only a few narrow exits for skinny people to pass through. A medium-size person would have to be careful, and a large person wouldn't be able to get through unscathed unless they found the well-hidden larger entrance that Phillip let Knight and his own family's horses through. 

Lots of hardy vegetables were growing in neat rows inside, stuff that grew with very little water. A few fruit trees in the front yard with rather small green lemons on it, and another with even smaller green apples, the tiniest apples Dusty had ever seen really. He was used to 'em being at least the size of your palm. These were the size of his thumb and index finger hooked, and no bigger. There were a lot of them though, and they seemed to be just as hardy as the others.

"They call these 'Lady Apples' in the big city, but I prefer to call 'em 'Baby Apples'." Phillip explained as he took out a pocket knife from his pants and picked a few of the apples with it, putting them on top of the mushrooms in the basket. He put a handful in a wooden feeder by the front porch for Knight, then he carried the rest of the fruit up to the house, where he knocked to announce Dusty's arrival, even though he lived there, and added as they stepped inside, "Mama! I got a visitor with me, just one, about my age! He's hurt, is it okay if he stays the night and rests up here?"

A skinny brown-haired woman stepped forward from the kitchen, led by a cane. "A visitor you say? We don't get too many of those. I assume you're not a thief, since as you can clearly see we have nothing of value here. But just make sure to check in with your Papa too. He's in the back collecting some cactus fruit. Did you find anything by the way?"

Phillip proceeded to empty the contents of his basket into his mother's apron pockets. She felt at them, observing the contents with her sense of touch. "Ooh, found some mushrooms, did you? Good boy, Phil!"

Phillip grinned proudly for her, then headed off to the back, taking Dusty's hand to pull him along, almost kinda like a kid with a new best friend. Dusty figured he must be a few years younger than him, closer to Sandy's age, that or he just didn't get out and meet people much, like her... He felt a not-so-small twinge of pain and regret in his heart at that...

No use dwelling on it here and now, though... So he followed silently after Phil, who went out the back door to meet his father, who was just about to come back in with a basket of attractive-looking bright pink fruits in his one and only hand. He also had a cactus needle sticking out of his cheek, though it was hard to tell at first with all the mostly white-gray and some still-blond whiskers on his face. Probably hard to shave with just one arm and when your wife couldn't see...

Phillip laughed as he ran up to him, pulling it out, "Dad! You're getting pricked by the cacti again!"

"Am I?" His father wiggled his jaw, seemingly not noticing either that it was there or its absence. "Aw, well. My skin is about as tough as a cactus by now anyways! Who's this new fella here?"

"Met him on the Mushroom Trail. He said his name is Dustin!" Phillip announced, pushing Dustin forward for his father to inspect.

Handing his basket to Phil, his father gave the newcomer a strong one-armed hug. "Dustin, huh? You look more like a Dusty! Mind if I call ya Dusty?" He then proceeded to ruffle his hair up.

Dusty bowed his head down, shy. Also... Well, technically 'Dusty' had always been Sandy's nickname for him before anyone else, it kinda hurt to hear it and be reminded of her, but... Maybe he deserved that. Like a reminder of what he lost, and why... "Y-Yeah... Go ahead and call me Dusty, that's fine..."

The scruffier older man nodded and patted him on the back. He kinda reminded Dusty of Earl, except he looked older, even if he was probably pretty close in age, and more rough around the edges in general. "You can call me Joe. Short for Joseph, but I prefer Joe. Ma's name is Britney, by the by, and our other three boys are Paul, Ian, and Kirk. Phil, you go on and tend to the animals for the night, then clean yerself up and get your brothers and your friend to before coming in, me and Ma will make dinner in the meantime."

Phillip nodded and then went to the nearby green-painted barn, where their animals were resting. Two old grey and white-spotted horses that were rarely ridden anymore, an older mother buffagoat and her growing baby, and a pen of half-plucked chickens that were pecking each other in between the grain Phillip could manage to give them. Dusty couldn't judge. The nobles were the ones with fat, happy, perfectly plumed animals. The animals out here had to deal with the stress just like the people did.

After making sure they all had something to settle their stomachs for the night, and running a little extra out to Knight as well, Phil then went around the barn to where three younger boys were playing, about the same ages as Teresa's sisters. They had a few homemade wooden toys, carved by their father using his own feet to hold the wood while he whittled it, in the simplified shapes of a horse/vali, a buffagoat, a bison-bear, a simple barncat, and a chicken-lizard. Otherwise the children were using their own imaginations to simply make pictures in the dust with their own hands, just like Dusty remembered doing as a child...

"C'mon boys! Time to wash up for supper!" Phillip announced, and at the sound of food they all came running for the water well, crowding around the small bucket of water Phillip drew up for them to all wash their hands and faces with. The leftover dirty water was then poured onto the crops, never a drop wasted.

They then fast-walked to the house and into the kitchen, not running because that would just defeat the purpose of eating the amount of food they had waiting for them.

Also, actually cooked meals was something Dusty had admittedly come to take for granted from the women in his life, or being able to whip up himself with what was on hand. Admittedly he had been wondering what kind of meal a blind woman and a one-armed man could make out of some mushrooms, tiny apples and cactus fruit. And... Yeah. It was fried mushrooms, and chopped tiny apple and cactus fruit salad.

Still though, after eating horse spit and dirt covered tubers on the trail so far, some minimally washed mushrooms that were actually heated up truly did hit the spot. Though he had to be a little more careful with the salad after finding a cactus needle sticking to his tongue...

After allowing him to finish his small meal slowly, since there was then still time before anyone was expected to go to bed, Joe began to ask Dusty questions, "So, whats yer story then pal? How'd you get that?" He motioned to Dusty's broken arm, while picking his teeth with an extra large and thick cactus needle he had saved for the job. "I assume Phil already told you a bit about me, and how I lost mine to a slaver... Don't trust anyone in a big city, boy. But ESPECIALLY not anyone from Dizzy Bee Industries! Sure, they have a lot of good jobs too, and that's what I thought I was getting when a guy I thought was a friend brought me in. Turns out Dizzy Bee hires guys to make friends with the local poor boys and find out which ones will be least likely to be missed. And since that was the case, after I ran from Dizzy Bee, I had to run away from the whole city for good, because after that there was no safe place for me. Dizzy Bee owned it all. Not that I'm trying to scare ya away completely, mind ya -- There's plenty of things you can only find in the city. But I'm just saying, that goes for both good and bad things..."

Dusty nodded. "I know... I'm not going to the city to look for fortune though... I've always just wanted to live a simple life, to just get married to the gal I love and give her a home and maybe a child of our own someday, but..."

He choked up a bit there, though he stubbornly wiped the tears from his eyes before they fell. "Earnest Greed... He attacked Ranchton a few days ago... He kidnapped my Teresa, and in all the chaos, my sister Sandy, she..." Guilt kept the dirtiest details locked up in his own sinful soul... He couldn't bear to tell them about that part, they would surely hate him as much as he hated himself if he did... "They... They accused her of something she didn't do after Greed left, they were going to hang her -- She only borrowed that horse to go looking for me after I tried to go after Teresa! They know she didn't steal nothing! They were just looking for someone to blame after Greed showed up! ...So she ran away to save her life, and now I have no idea where either she or Teresa are, or if either of them are alive..."

The whole family, even their near-blind ma, was wide-eyed after that. Joe managed to choke up first, "G-Greed hit Ranchton? Of all places--The MAYOR!" He gasped suddenly, patting Britney on the hand for extra attention. "Remember how I told you me and Phil heard at the animal supply store last year that the mayor of Ranchton had just recently built himself a fancy new mansion like the kinds the princes and other nobles near the city have? I guess now we now how he got his... Making a deal with the devil, that's now. And he got the whole town burned..." He then cast a sympathetic glance at Dusty. "I'm sorry, boy... It's real noble of you to go looking for yer gal, in the true meaning of the word. I really do hope you find her..."

Dusty of course didn't really feel noble, but also didn't say anything to make him think otherwise... It seemed like Phillip was thinking though. He was looking down at his lap, deep in thought... Then he looked up at his mother, and then back as his father. Really studying their faces...

His eyes then met with his father. "Dad... I really feel like I should go with Dusty. I really think it's the right thing to do. He's hurt and is gonna need help healing up, but he has to hurry along to try and find his sister and his gal! But even if he finds one of em, he's not gonna be able to do much in his state, and he probably won't get far anyways, he looks like he just got lucky making it here, no offense Dusty--"

Nah, that was fair... Knight's breath wasn't really 'sweet' so much as 'not as terrible as one might assume horse breath should be'.

Phillip carried on, "Please, Pa... I promise I'll try not to be away too long, but the other boys do need to learn to help out from you guys too, and this fella obviously really needs someone to help him, his gal and his sister need help, and if he's willing to risk it all with a broken arm in the wild, I just don't think he should have to do it alone! I promise we'll be careful and stay safe, I cross my heart Pa, I'll come back, I know you and Ma need me to help ya out, but... He needs... -I- need..." 

He faltered there, but his father didn't force him to go on. Tears welling in both their eyes, the bearded man nodded, using his one hand to reach over and pat his boy proudly on the back. "I understand... I know I've told you every boy deserves to get to go out and see the world someday, and that I wished I could take you... And I wish I could just say you could go, Phil, but... Dusty? Is that something you even want yourself?"

The guilt gnawed at him. He knew he ought to say no, I'll go it alone, I can't let you put yourself in danger for my sake -- That's what a real noble guy would do. But he wasn't, and he really needed all the help he could get to try and get Teresa back, and find Sandy... He knew he couldn't do it alone. Hell, he knew the two of them together still didn't stand a chance, and that he'd simply be roping this boy in for the moral support. He did seem eager for an adventure, but this was potentially suicidal at a certain point...

Dusty promised, he wouldn't let Phil get that close to the danger... Just... If he could just help him heal up along the way to the next croppings of towns and the nearest big cities accessible from the roads connected to them, that alone would be a huge help for Dusty, and would probably sate Phil's curiosity for adventure beyond his home, surely...?

So he tried to be as honest as he could... "I... I don't want to hurt Phil, or see him get hurt... But to be honest, I really need some help right now too... I still don't want Phil to involve himself in any danger over my business, but if he could help me heal up along the way, just until we make it to Wellspring Town, I could probably take it from there..."

Joe studied his face as he listened intently to his answer. He waited at least a full minute, the rest of the family and Dusty on bated breath for what he might say. Finally he spoke up again, "...Dusty, if you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you privately for just a few minutes, outside, before I either agree or disagree with that. Will you please come?"

His stomach in nervous knots, Dusty nodded, getting up and going out onto the front porch with him. With the two dim twin suns going around the planet the days were a little longer, but they were finally starting to set now...

Staring out at the waves of twilight, Joe pondered quietly, "I need to know something Dusty... And I need you to know something. I need you to know that -I know- there's something you're not being completely forthcoming about... I -believe- you're more a good man than not, but even good men can make mistakes, and I can see it in your eyes you've made a few... I won't pry too much, but I don't have to pry to sense... Phil's a good boy. He wants to help as much as he can. I want to believe in him and let him go free now that he's close to being an adult, but as his father, it's hard... I know that even a grown man can get hurt. Get taken... I won't let that happen to Phil. But I know I can't just keep him locked up on the farm all his life like a prisoner, either..."

Now his soul was stabbing him. Said like that... Damn, that was... Really what he and Earl had been doing to Sandy...

How could he have ever come to think that was normal...?

A tear came to his eye. He let it slip, his throat so tight he could barely breathe. His eyes distant...

Joe waved his hand in front of his face. "What's on yer mind, Dusty? Ya look like ya need to get something off yer chest there..."

His heart begged him to be honest. But he knew if he did, Phil probably wouldn't even want to help him anymore... All the same, he knew he couldn't say nothing at all... He felt like he had to confess -something-. His tongue began to move... "My sister Sandy... She... Probably hates me... I thought I couldn't help her... No one would ever let me help her without looking down on me, so... After a while I thought it would just be better for both of us to just cooperate. Because she's so different, but... Sandy never could, -because- she's so different..." He was only now finally starting to realize...

Joe suddenly was staring at his face very intently. He looked on the verge of anger but was holding it back. "Dusty. Different how? I won't ask for your whole life story, but you tell me what you meant by that, when you said your sister was so different from everyone else -- How? What made her so different, Dusty?"

This was apparently very important to him. Dusty felt a bit scared to answer, but... He forced himself to, knowing his fear made sense because he had done wrong, and would now be scolded for it. Earl never boxed him on the ears or hit him often like his father did, physical punishment was much more rare, but he was alway quick to let you know when you screwed up. Always quick to let you know he couldn't afford for you to screw something up, because if it came down to his family or you, of course he would choose his family, and that was only fair, Dusty had to admit. Even if he never liked admitting it...

"It's because... Sandy, her ma was one of the Purple People... She has purple skin like they do. I know it sounds bad, but... We had to keep her inside most of the time because we knew there were other men who might do much worse to her, or us..."

Joe blinked at that. "...Admittedly that's not what I was expecting to hear... Huh... I bet people probably made your lives hell just for being her brother, didn't they Dusty...? I think I understand a little more about you now... I'm sure you thought you were doing the best you could, but... You need to do better Dusty. Because I can tell, as much as it hurt trying to shield your sister from the others, you never really considered how much more she was hurting... Didja? You need to do better for her, and you need to do better for Phillip. You can't just rely on him to help you. If he needs help too, even if you're hurt, even if other people might give ya hell for it, you need to have his back like he's got yours! You need to protect him with all you've got, and if you get back your gals, you need to protect them with all you got too! Understood?"

Choked up, Dusty quickly nodded, unable to voice his 'yes' right away. 

And besides, Joe seemed like he had something he wanted to confess now too... "Dusty... I told Phil I cut my own arm off to get away from those slavers back when I was a kid... Please don't tell him, but truth is I lied about that... I didn't cut it off on purpose. I got 'lucky', it got torn off in a freak accident. Y'see life's just like that -- Sometimes it just comes down to pure dumb luck, and there's nothing we can really do. But most of the time, we have a choice. I had a choice back then, even when I thought I didn't. I thought I didn't have a choice until it was almost too late. I had to choose whether to feel sorry for myself and bleed on the ground until I died, or get up, wrap a rag around it, and run like hell. And somehow? I survived, when I probably should have died... On pure dumb luck, but also, because I made that choice. Don't forget you have a choice again Dusty, even if you're down and out on the ground, even you think you're about to die? That's still your choice. To either accept it, or fight against it... Always choose to fight. Always choose to at least TRY to get up off the ground, even when your body's bleeding and your eyesight is about to black out. Fight for the people you love, the people you call your family and friends, with just as much passion, or else don't claim to love them or call them that..."

He still couldn't speak at first. What could he say compared to a speech like that? But Joe seemed a little expectant, and his firstborn kid -was- on the line against dangerous criminals, so it made sense... "I... I will, sir... While I'm still alive, I'll fight to get Teresa safe with me again, and I'll do whatever I can to find Sandy and tell her I'm sorry... I refuse to die while I can still do something to help them, and I swear I'll watch your son's back while he's out there watching mine..."

Joe nodded soulfully, sniffing thickly and scratching his scruffy chin. "All I can do is trust you, both of you... Everybody's gotta go out and find themselves some day. It's a lot more dangerous for girls, but that doesn't mean it's easy for boys either..."

Things suddenly felt kinda awkward. Dusty wasn't sure how to end this and he just felt pathetic, so he quickly wiped his face with his sleeve, and told the man with his eyes now averted in embarassment at all the emotion shown, "I guess I should probably rest now, gotta get up real early, but, uh..."

Well, sheesh. What do you say to the man who just agreed to let you, an injured stranger, take his firstborn to help heal up while you searched for a dangerous criminal? It was kind of a big deal...

"Whoa--!" Dusty suddenly jerked forward, a large head, Knight's head, nudging him in the back and pushing him against Joe's chest.

Joe snorted. "Aw heck Dusty, if you needed a hug, just say so next time!" He then proceeded to wrap his one arm around Dusty and squeezed hard. It made his hurt arm sting, but Dusty smiled past the wince anyways... 

Knight nuzzled his back a bit from behind too, then went back to the feeder to nibble at the remaining bits of grain and apples...

He then went back inside, Joe close behind him. Phil made no attempt to hide he had been spying, feeling a little left out but also understanding his dad needed to get some stuff straight. "So...? Dad, Dusty...?"

His father looked deep into his eyes for a moment or two. Then he nodded, a bit reluctantly, but with finality. "I trust you, Phil. You're an adult now. You can go where you like, with who you please... Just be careful, and come back to us sooner than later if you can manage, or at least send us some post and let us know how you are if you need extra time. Alright?"

Phillip stepped in and hugged his pa too, much more naturally than Dusty had done. He even nuzzled his chest, and his pa ruffled his hair. They were real close, even closer than Earl and his sons ever were, and sure as heck more than he'd even been with Dusty...

Dusty coughed, involuntarily. Phil looked up and walked over, taking his hand again. "Come, you can share my bed. We'll sleep back to back. Gotta get used to that, right?"

Dusty smiled at him and nodded, blushing a little at how comfortable the other young man was with casual affection... "Sure it's okay? I'm not kicking out one of your brothers am I? I can sleep on the floor..."

"PSH! They can sleep with ma and pa tonight, then they're gonna steal my bed while I'm away! WELL I'M TAKING THE PILLOW YA LIL' GOBLINS!"

After the smaller boys had finally stopped giggling over that, everyone settled down with some soft and quiet singing from Britney, accented by the distant howl-scream of a lupine-swine, also known as wolfswine and/or werepigs, a foul and freaky nocturnal mix of wolf and pig that explained the need for a cactus fence around the property and made Dusty extra grateful to have found a place to sleep before dark...

Thankfully though the animal knew well by now not to come near, and the family slept peacefully in their beds until the following dawn.

The next morning, just when the sun was starting to peek over the horizon and the rest of the sky was still dark, Dusty began to crack open his eyes. He was eager to go already, every second not knowing what was happening to his loved ones was torture, but he politely waited for the other boy to start stirring a few minutes later, too. "You awake?" He asked when he finally felt his back begin to move.

Phil rubbed at his eyes and then sucked in a deep breath of fresh morning air... Then one of his brothers farted. "Right on time... Yup, I'm ready to get up now. And I'm ready to have a morning not waking up to that for once, so I hope you don't eat too many beans, Dust..."

He snorted but promised nothing on the issue of beans, and the two of them started pulling on their boots and putting on their jackets and hats. By then the rest of the family had woken up too. Phil went out and collected more apples and cactus fruit with his father and brothers, then went inside and helped his ma prepare an apple-flavored griddle-cake, placing a kiss on her cheek when it was done.

The griddle-cake was needle-free so Dusty enjoyed it a little more quickly, eager to get on the road again. Phillip understood and also ate quickly after that. The family waited to eat theirs until later. When he was done, his ma and pa gave him a sack with food and tools he'd need for the trip, and then they all gathered around and gave him a family hug together. After hugging him alone for a full minute, Joe reached over and pulled Dusty, who was just awkwardly standing aside and waiting, into the hug-party as well. 

They squeezed them both into the collective group for another minute and then finally let them go, calling after Phillip as he patted Dusty's uninjured shoulder to let him know he was ready to go, 

"Be safe, son!" 

"We love you Phillip, come back to your ma soon!"

"Be careful big bro!" "We'll miss you Philly!"

"I'M TAKING YER NAME WHILE YER GONE! I'M PHILLIP NOW! AHAHAHAHA!"

Phillip shouted over his shoulder out the door, "SHUDDUP PAUL, NO YOU AIN'T!" Then stuck out his tongue at him and grinned before closing the door behind them and heading out on the trail with his very new friend.

...A friend who was feeling awful guilty, from atop his white stallion's back... Feeling like the pure white beast was casting him a judging eye now and then, between nipping his lips on the back of Phillip's neck...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ju-Li was making really good progress along the way to the Mesa. On their rest breaks in the few safe spots Silver could find when she got tired, Sandy prepared more words of things they saw along the way. Her one word for rock soon expanded to 'boulders' and 'pebbles', and she now knew a 'small calm sea' was really a 'lake', and a 'running sea' was a 'river', and that the 'sea' and the 'ocean' were the really, really big waters that went on and on, and how to spell them all. 

She was the one to teach Sandy about the constellations the natives saw among the stars, though. Flynza, the trickster fox-frog, contained in a pocket of mostly green and red lights and two blue orbs for eyes... Hijemina, the great maternal goose-goddess stretching milky white wings across the heavens... Perin, warrior wolf-boar god, a cluster of bright red and purple....

And a pocket of darkness far away, swirling with amoebic orange-red clouds around the deep inky purplish void like a bruise on the universe... That was the home of their god of death... Sandy shivered, seeing that place even from afar... Wondering if that's where her soul went when it left this world with the jailer a few weeks ago...

Was that where she'd go someday... Because she sent him there...?

Swirling golden and marigold-orange sands became purplish-blue and coal-dark hues. The mesa, a mostly red, purple and gray behemoth banded sparsely with stripes of blue, and shielding several lands below with its shadow, was even more beautiful than Sandy remembered it, but so much sadder...

Still, it was much safer to enjoy the view now, at least, and when Ju-Li began to bow at the summit she joined her. Ju-Li explained, "You say... Big, giant shell in this big tall rock? I think... I hear of it from my people... Sacred to many, but now lost and haunted..."

"Lost?" Sandy indicated to the sight before them, "Clearly not anymore, but... As for it being haunted...? That I'm not so sure about..."

Not -sure-, but she certainly suspected it, as they began to climb the summit. Maybe it was just her own nerves at being back in such a place of trauma... Or maybe there was something else she was sensing, surrounding her, far above her and beneath her, as she followed the path, looping around the mesa a few times before finally leading up. It had been so long Sandy almost missed the fork in the road that led to the shell-cup entrance she rememebered, she almost passed it and was heading to the top of the mesa, when a breeze blew past her face, and Silver whined and redirected them, as if knowing what the wind said and what it wanted. 

After taking the new path and finally arriving at the edge of the shell from her faded memory, Sandy stared into the shadows of the fossilized skeleton within. It was... Not exactly scary. But not inviting either. She was apprehensive about going in, as was every other person that had ever had to step into the strange space. It was not a fun vacation spot. No one ever went there that was not seeking escape from death or great harm, no one except the priestesses that did sacred rites there in the past.

Sandy felt a bit apprehensive as she climbed in with Ju-Li. As if she shouldn't be here, at least not under these circumstances, but at the same time she felt very much as if the shell was offended that she hadn't come back there in so long, either...

It wasn't the same kind of slippery she remembered the first time. It was slimier. Evidently Dani had been making time somehow in the midst of her slavery to at least keep the floors scrubbed. She was deeply attached to this sacred place. It was one of the many reasons she felt she was never able to escape...

Realizing this, Sandy stopped. Her feet felt wrong. She remembered being barefoot the first time she came here, as a child who hadn't been given shoes yet. And her shoes now, they felt wrong in this place... Even if it was slippery, shoes weren't allowed here, she felt...

She took off her boots, and put them on the top of the cliff where they couldn't fall. Ju-Li did the same. But then Sandy hesitated. She seemed to be talking to Silver, alone, in her head, as she often did. Ju-Li would always just stand beside awkwardly. She knew better than to outright ask or even really hope for a translation of the personal language between two Destined, but when it was just the three of them so far out in the middle of the wilderness... She couldn't really help it. It made her feel sort of excluded...

But she reasoned with herself. That's the Other in you talking, that savage, selfish, mannerless Settler blood in you... You ARE being included, it's just that your role is small compared to theirs... and it hurt, but she reasoned it away as her duty... To repent, to make things as right as she could make them after causing such a wrong...

Unknowingly solidifying this, Sandy next suggested, "Ju-Li... I feel like it's wrong to come in here with shoes. And also that this place... It was supposed to be kept clean. At least cleaner than this... It was once meant for people to hide in, in times of danger. It had to be kept clean and safe. But besides that... It was sacred. I think, if this place is haunted or angry, it's because it's been needing a priestess to clean it and bless it... And my mother, the last of them, died, and I was taken away... I think... I can just sense that this place wants me to clean it, and bless it. I feel like it won't even let us speak to it or my mother if we didn't... It would be a hard job to do by myself though..."

She stopped then, giving a sheepish look to Ju-Li. "I mean... Do you think you could help? Even if you're not a priestess or one of my people, I think it'll be okay for you to come in and help clean, because my mother let my half-brother Dusty inside when we we're kids, hiding from that storm..."

Ju-Li nodded. It was no easy task ahead of them but it was a sacred duty, one that any of her people would be proud and honored to partake in, so she focused on that too. "Yes! I will help you clean this sacred place, Sandy. But... We're going to need some things to do it...?"

Sandy nodded, looking a bit pensive and puzzled about that too, and mentioning, "Silver said they used to have a special kind of vali that could help clean and purify certain things, they would find one ahead of time when it was due for another blessing... But we're gonna have to do it the hard way. We can go back to the nearest town on Silver's Tempest," This is what Sandy called Silver's ability to fly very far and incredibly fast. Her normal, more gentle flight patterns were called 'Zephyr'-ing. "And at least find an extra bucket and rags and maybe even a cleaning solution somewhere, but... Even if that cleans the place well enough, well... I'm not really sure what to do to 'bless' it though? If it's something I do, or if we need the other kind of vali to properly bless it? If that's the case..." She left off, but yeah, it wasn't fun to think of how long that could take, to find a special kind of vali in the wild, even if they could soar overhead...

Silver nipped at Sandy's hair and seemed to soundlessly whisper something into her ear. Sandy nodded and then patted her, explaining to Ju-Li after, "She said she has a power that could possibly call the vali we need to us. However, it's one of her more unreliable powers, and she's scared to use it because it might also attracted a dark, unfriendly vali, or something even darker. I think it's too risky too. I don't want to use something like that unless we absolutely have to, so lets just try looking the old fashioned way first and hope we get lucky, okay?"

Marking the area on a map they were making along the way in one of Sandy's spare notebooks, they then backtracked the way they came until they arrived at the largest and most prosperous looking town on the way. That still wasn't saying much, but most of these people were stocked with the basics. Someone was either distantly related to a noble or had given them something worth a few favors in return. Only a handful seemed destitute. 

Sandy was fair about it. When Silver took her from home to home, phasing through the walls, she only took a little bit each from whoever had a surplus. Those who had little to begin with she didn't take from. And she only took a little water for herself and the others from the most well to do homes, for she knew that was too precious, and from her memory she knew there ought to be just a little reserve of water at the top of the mesa to use for cleaning. Altogether, all she took was just a few rags and scrubbing sponges, and a few bottles of cleaning solutions. She hoped the sacred shell didn't mind smelling like pine-lemons and lavenderberries... 

After taking their supplies to the mesa and storing them near the shell, they then began the task or circling around the wider areas, soaring on the Tempest, trying to find the rare kind of vali Silver said to look out for, which would be either pure white, dark purple, sky blue, or very pale pink in color, and unlike most other species of vali, this kind of vali tended to have short hair on their bodies and much more closely resembled normal equine, unlike the more common variety of vali that seemed to be a cross of horse and seahorse. Unfortunately though, these rare types of vali they were seeking out were also much less capable of handling harsher environments than the hairless seahorse-looking types, and since these lands had become much harsher in recent years, many if not most of those rare kinds of vali had left for the better lands, closer to the nobles. But then, this proximity too was dangerous, for the nobles often liked to capture these types of vali, which they found beautiful. So some vali did stay behind, preferring their freedom even if it came with less food and other comforts.

But a whole day passed, and another... Almost a week had gone by without a single sighting, after soaring through the skies every morning and throughout the daytime hours, until it got dark. Silver began to complain that flying at Tempest speeds so much was giving her back and belly aches, and that she needed to go back to a gentle Zephyr for a few days. They continued their search at the slower pace but luck still didn't find them. After letting Silver rest for a while, Sandy reluctantly agreed to the vali's suggestion the next day that they take a chance and use her last ditch power, what she called the 'Cry for Clemency'.

At the top of the mesa, Silver proceeded to let out a softly mournful cry. Not quite like something wounded though, not in the sense that it was a bleeding thing that could be easily gobbled up, although any dark creature that heard it could still interpret it that way. But it sounded different to Sandy... It sounded more lonely than anything. Hesitant. Unsure. Calling out hoping for a friend, knowing that the world around you was full of foes...

Ju-Li noted, that even when poor Silver had seen her own mother slain, she still hadn't made that call...

And immediately after it was made, Silver urged them to hide as best they could, in a shallow little cave they had stored the books and cleaning supplies earlier. Hide and wait... Sandy knew this game too well...

After about five or six hours of hiding, during which Silver absolutely insisted they stay put until at least the next morning, a gentle trotting noise could be heard coming near their cave... And then a soft, patient snort...

They hesitantly peeked outside of the cave, and there, in the half-gone glow of the moon, was a mare of pure white, a full-grown female who looked to be currently pregnant with a foal. Despite the danger, she had come when she heard the call of another distressed vali...

Bowing low to her, Sandy and Ju-Li then stepped aside and allowed Silver to nuzzle and nip at the new vali, who seemed to take to her just as well. Silver seemed to look upon her pregnant belly especially with fondness, and the older female nipped at Silver's mane, cleaning it of twigs like a mother would do for her foal. They spoke to each other in their own language of whinnies and snorts and nearly noiseless huffs and puffs for a moment or few, and then Silver turned back to translate for Sandy, who in turn let Ju-Li know what she was being told, "She says her family used to bring their blessings here, until the sacred place was lost. She is offering her service now, but we have to clean it ourselves first. Once we're done, she'll do the blessing."

It was fair enough, one couldn't expect a horse to hold a sponge after all, and besides that she was pregnant, so they let her rest in the shallow cave with Silver while they set to work with the cleaning supplies in the shell.

Surprisingly, the smell wasn't the worst part, although it was a strong contender. There was some kind of organism that reproduced on the floors and walls and needed to be cleaned away at least every few handfuls of years, and it was a few handful of years overdue. Ju-Li plugged her nose with one hand and scrubbed with the other at the smelly sticky stuff with ample amounts of lavenderberry cleaner, and while she did so, she relayed something else she had heard from the native legends, "This place... You say people used to hide here. There's more... People come to die here. Not the first death, though. Second death. Past a giant gate to the other-world. Soul made naked. Made to tell the truth, and wash off what made them dirty with their own tears. As long as the sins weren't too bad, they can be reborn and live again, or move on and be joined with their Destined, if they found one..."

Sandy shuddered listening to her, but also... While she was cleaning, she could swear she could hear whispers around her from time to time, saying things like, 'What took so long...', 'She's here now at least...', and 'Come on, hurry, I want to die already...!', that sort of made it harder to do her job... But then she supposed, it also made her work harder, knowing the purpose of it was all the more urgently needed and long overdue...

Using what little light the sun provided during the day, they scrubbed and wiped until the slowly wriggling algae that covered the shell was starting to wear down, and the pretty pale abalone floors beneath began to shine through. That's when it was time to pick up the buckets and head to the top of the mesa, to collect the water there and wash away the grime and cleaner. 

But once at the top, they were quite disappointed to find that what little water remaining there had been stagnant for quite a long time, and was even greener than the walls of the shell. Sandy berated herself for not checking it before, but her memory of the waters from her childhood were always clear, or close to it. What had happened...?

She was just starting to consider that she might have to go back and steal precious water from someone after all, when the pure white vali that had arrived earlier nudged her from behind. She turned around, seeing purpose in the white mare's soulful brown eyes, and also... Something was starting to glimmer at the base of her forehead, as she approached the foul little pond... 

Sandy stared in amazement, though Ju-Li could not see what she was seeing, she could at least see Sandy's eyes literally light up and begin to glow aqua blue at whatever it was. What it was, was the same invisible crystal as Silver's hidden wings were made out of, but with a living, pulsing glimmer to it that made it clear this animal had nothing to do with the Dead World, protruding from her forehead in the shape of a long, slightly curved, and sharp-ended horn. She bent down, and the tip of that sparkling glass-like horn touched the slimy waters...

In an instant, the completely green pond went completely clear, the waters so clear you could see the bottom of the massive 'sand-dollar'-style shell that had been collecting the waters at the top of this mesa for eons... Waters so fresh and clean, it was almost sweet to taste when Sandy reached in and brought a handful to her thirsty lips. Amazed by the results, she immediately implored the others to drink their fill too.

"Almost a shame to throw this beautiful water down into that dirty shell..." Sandy mentioned, but then suddenly the white mare pointed her horn towards the sky, and dark clowds began to quickly gather around them. It was almost frightening for a second for Sandy, remembering that terrible storm from years ago, the coal-dark twister flashing in her mind, but thankfully it became obvious quite soon that this storm would bring only the much-needed rain. No cyclones, just a few sparse sparks of lightning to stir up the magic around this old place...

In the meantime, while the rain washed away the grime and cleaner from the shell naturally, the two girls and the two mares enjoyed running and dancing and washing themselves in the first rain these lands had seen in decades... Life giving rain, magical rain... Truly, a -blessed- rain.

Those blessed rains poured down and over them, over the entire mesa, washing away both the dirt and dust and the bad memories that had been sitting stagnant in this place, and the grime in the shell ran down deep, deep inside, where Sandy just knew it was being washed away deep down, where it couldn't harm anyone. 

She and Ju-Li gladly filled a few more buckets from the water source, since it was now completely full again, and took it to the shell to make sure they had gotten rid of all the green slimy stuff still lingering. By then then sun was finally setting and with so little light left, they probably should have waited until morning to explore further down, and yet... Something made Sandy sense that daylight hours weren't the preferred hours for this meeting anyways... The night hours were best for this. Even if it was still damp, right after the rain and all, and about to get cold and dark... That was best for this kind of magical meeting, it made the connection stronger, and was most fortunate. She ought not waste a moment, and begin right away...

The shell was wet, but without the slimy grimy stuff covering it, it was much less slippery, and Sandy found it was easier than it had ever been to travel down, even with her feet now bare. And the darkness was becoming less of an issue too, as her aqua eyes continued to glow brighter and brighter in the dark, the further down into the shell she went. Around and round, wider and wider until they got to the big doors with the big sacred room that Sandy barely remembered hiding just inside of, in the dark... She'd never seen anything inside that room as a child, only remembered that she sensed it was much bigger than she thought, than she could see...

But now she could see it, not just by the glow of her own eyes, but by the glow of the glyphs in the door lighting up bright in front of her, and the creatures frozen in time upon the walls inside the room, they glowed for her now too. Both watching her and watching over her with that glow, not brought by her powers, but by their own. By their own spirits, watching over all that she had done before and would now do... Starfish all around, making it look almost like a starry sky, except for the stray turtleshell, and sharp-toothed fishbones of various sizes strewn between...

Ju-Li seemed just as amazed as her, but also a little nervous. A little unsure if someone like her truly belonged in a place like this. But she forged on despite her fear and uncertainty, for the honor of her people, for Sandy so that she wouldn't be alone... And because Silver and the white mare were behind her, nudging her along, as they intended to witness the event too.

The event beginning with the sudden emergence of a plate-sized shell, something like a sand-dollar but fashioned to be worn like a hat, in front of the doors at Sandy's feet... She picked it up, and yet despite holding the real physical shell-hat in her hands, a ghostly mirror image of the shell-hat remained on the floor. Until it began to rise, a spectre of a body rising beneath it too until an entire female form had risen from the floor and stood level in front of Sandy. It was the ghost of her mother, Dani... Only now, Sandy was a whole inch and a half taller than her mother had been when they were last together...

Tears sprung to her eyes, which continued to glow even brighter than ever at the sight of her despite the pains in her heart at knowing it couldn't be for long. Dani's eyes were no longer capable of tears, but she looked pained, knowing it too... Still, she forged on, determined to use what little time they had as wisely as she could.

She couldn't embrace her, but she spoke to her, and her voice was clearer than it had ever been. She was no longer burdened by the settler's words she never wanted to learn in the first place, and could speak to her child through the heart, with her own true words and her own true language, which Sandy could now also understand just as well as her, as if their minds had been connected. She told her, "That hat was mine... And it was my mother's, and her mother's, and her father's... We passed it down a long time. It is yours now, and we would appreciate it if you passed it down to a child someday, if you can..."

Dani seemed to mention that a little bashfully at the end there, but it was also one of the first things she mentioned to Sandy after so long apart, when they apparently had limited time together. Sandy asked her in turn, a bit shy herself but also with purpose, wanting to make her mother and her ancestor's as much at peace as they could be. "Is that... Something you all want of me, to have children? To bring more of our kind into the world again... Because they killed so many of our kind... Because I'm now the very last...?"

"Not the very last." Her mother stressed to quickly add next, for this next part was even more important to know, "In Crescent Capes, beyond the corrupt and sinful city the settlers call 'Sancta-Nova'... And within Sancta-Nova... There are two more of our kind still in this world. One lone male, now a prince to our people, resides hidden among our blue-skinned brothers and sisters, the Shanani. Our people were known as the Shugana. The Shanani's priestesses celebrated and appeased the gods of life. The Shugana celebrated and appeased the gods of death. Both were important. Neither were more good or bad. We loved each other and worked with each other. We still do. The Shanani protected our last prince, and have tried to free the last Shugana princess who is trapped, enslaved, by the evil and corrupt so-called 'holy' men of Sancta-Nova city. You will be needed to free her, Sandy. You must work with the Prince. And, if possible..."

She trailed off, and Sandy picked up for her, her cheeks burning despite the chill of the wet shell on her barefoot feet... "You want me to... Marry the prince, and make a Shugana baby with him...?"

Ju-Li was burning even brighter beside her. Not just in disgust and fear of the subject she personally cared less for than most things, but also bristling up a bit in anger at how unfair it was for poor Sandy. She had even less of a choice than Ju-Li had been given about having children. In Ju-LI's case, it was a matter of giving back to the community, but she definitely wasn't really needed. New children for the tribe would be appreciated, but any other woman from her tribe was just as capable, even preffered in most cases. But in Sandy's case, only one other woman of her kind even existed, and she was currently held captive by the enemy... 

As much as Ju-Li sometimes felt a bit envious of Sandy and her power, and her connection to the native people... Admittedy, this was something Ju-Li most certainly did not envy. 

Dani in the meantime was looking upon her daughter in confusion. "Marry...? Oh yes, that... And no. You are not required to live the rest of your life with anyone, or serve anyone in any way that you do not wish. The notion that you must promise all these things to someone just because love them or you create a child with them is silly at best, and sickening at worst. People should only stay together if they want to be together. But our kind will die out if as many children as possible are not born to us... That is simply the reality as well, my daughter..."

Part of Sandy understood. It was a simple reality, one of life or death. Survival or extinction. That's what it came down to. But another part of her was very confused. Despite what her mother was saying, despite it sounding right to her in a way too, she'd also been taught all her life that you had to be married before you did what people did to have children, and unmarried women with children were always severely punished...

She'd have to wrestle how she felt about that morally later on though, for her mother had much more to say and little time to relay it to her. 

Dani continued, "The history of the settlers, of your father's people... The histories contained in those books you carry on your back, and many more books still hidden in Sancta-Nova, you can find out more about that side of your people from them. But the history of the Shugana, our customs, our holy days, our heroic and tragic battles of body and soul, these you can only learn from me, now. Listen well, daughter..."

She spoke much of their beginning, and only very little of their end. She spoke much further at length about her family and her fondest memories of them, their holiest days and traditions, and their stories. Their myths, their beliefs, their ways. Everything that made them who they once were. 

Sandy listened very carefully, committing everything to memory so that she could write it down later, to keep all of the information safe. Hesitantly, she asked when it seemed like Dani was slowing down with the stream of info, "Mother... Are these traditions ones you wish me to keep too? Or am I... Allowed? Should I just pass it along to the Shanani and other natives...?"

Dani immediately began to shake her head, "Just as our blood would die away without your participation, so will our ways. They cannot be done by just anyone. Not yet anyways. Not until the old completely dies out can something new be reborn. But we are not gone yet, and we are not giving up on our divine purpose until then. We -would- appreciate if you would follow our ways... But only if you truly feel them as your own. For if you do not truly believe in it, tradition and ritual is merely soulless repetition. There is no meaning, and more importantly, no power behind it. However, it has been clear since you were little that you had the belief and the power in you... You need not worry about if you can, only if you truly -will-. But at the same time daughter, there is also no power in a ritual if it cannot be passed down... You must find the Prince first..."

Sandy nodded, "I will. But... Speaking of power, mother...?"

She didn't have to specify. Looking at her now, Sandy could tell, even though the lightning marks on her body had faded weeks ago, Dani could still see them... "You need to be very, very careful with that power, daughter. Absolutely never use it unless you have no other choice. I know you -think- you know what the consequence is if you lose there. But it's even worse than you think... It was a very rare power for us to use, only against those who were absolutely evil and we knew meant to do us and others much harm. But know that I do not blame you, either... I cannot blame myself for you being brought into this world, but... I suppose I did have a hand in your dark fate too... I cursed you when you were born, Sandy... And when your bastard of a father suggested the name he did, I all too viciously agreed... Because you see, in our language, San-Di does not mean the same thing. In our language it means 'death by revenge'... It is the name of that power you were forced to use to save yourself from those wicked men..."

Sandy briefly looked over at Ju-Li, giving her a sort of 'what the heck?' glance for not mentioning that earlier.

Ju-Li shrugged helplessly in defense of herself, "After what you did to that guy at the jail, I kinda just thought it was a good name for you...?"

A bit ashamed of this in hindsight, Dani added, "But, also... The meaning of this word in the settler's language, it means 'Grains of sand'... This was a better meaning. Like grains of sand, there are so many people. Alone, insignificant. But together, we can make something truly amazing and immense... If you wish to keep the name, please think of this as the meaning I would have preferred. But also know that the natives may hear your name, and be afraid of the other meaning..."

Sandy nodded pensively, looking down... "I'll keep it... I've had it so long already. And honestly... Both meanings seem kinda appropriate to me."

Dani nodded back, looking pained but proud. "I am sorry this is the fate chosen for both of us... But you have been so strong, my daughter, Sandy... You will continue to be strong for our people, won't you? I wish we could say that we will watch over you, but we are counting on you now, not the other way around... Please. Bring our ways to the Shanani, to be protected, and join forces with the Hidden Prince to save the Captured Princess... Whatever else you may choose to do for us, please do at least these things, to save us..."

Sandy's glowing eyes starting to fill with tears. She could sense their time was becoming limited, so she quickly assured her mother, "I will. I promise. I'll do whatever I can to bring the Shugana back to life again, mother Dani, and... I'm so, so sorry your own life was taken from you..."

"...My life was short, but it had meaning." Dani replied after a moment, pregnant with pain and regret. Sandy could sense she was starting to fade away now. Her time here was almost up... "I wish I could have spent more time with you... But as long as you stay loyal to your sister of the soul, dear Silver here... We will meet again someday, and have all the time in the world then to know who the other was... Until then, I will watch over you in the shadows, and the clouds, and the wind and rain... I will be all around you, until we can truly be together again... But until then, I must return to my world, to Dina who waits for me in the lands of eternity to join as one with her again... And you too must return to your world, and the responsibilities that await you there. But don't forget to take pleasure in the life you live, as often as you can, too. I wish I could have been allowed more indulgences in life... Partake in them for the both of us. Eat good food, and don't worry about those who would call you fat. Make love with someone if you love each other, and ignore those who would shame you or try to control you. And never, ever show fear to those who wish to see it, show them only your teeth! This is the most I can give you. Now I ask one more thing of you now..."

"What it is, mother?" Sandy implored, aching to wrap her arms around the soon to be gone spectre, even though she knew she would feel only air.

But Dani was still distant from her... Just as she couldn't bring herself to embrace her their final day together, even now, knowing she was incapable of it anyways, she turned away. Sandy supposed that despite her love and hope for her, she was still somewhat like Dusty in Dani's eyes, too. Never chosen, only accepted. But loved and cared for anyways...

Named with a settler's word, with their hair sprouting from her head, she had always been and would always be part of them too. But perhaps if she did as her mother asked, and rejoined them in the other world after completing her earthly tasks, and becoming one with Silver... Maybe then Dani would be not just able to embrace her again, but feel proud enough to...

Dani then pointed behind and beyond her, at a set of much larger set of doors deep within the head... Yes, Sandy now realized, this entire huge room they were in, where people once hid for safety... It was the hollowed-out head of the 'dead giant god' it used to be. The first door, left open by her and Dusty all those years ago, was merely half as big as the next set. It would be absolutely impossible to open those with even the combined strength of Sandy and Ju-Li.

And yet Dani instructed her, without a hint of doubt, "Open these doors. The Gate of the Beyond. Those who are worthy will ascend to heaven, and those who belong in hell will be dragged there... But the souls who wish to live and learn again have been waiting for you here, Sandy. Someone must open the gate for them... And it cannot be opened with hands or flesh or any kind. I think you know how to open it though. Please, at least until another priestess can be chosen, do this for them every few years. Please, for your mother. So I can rest in peace..."

Her eyes glowed brighter than ever. With purpose...

She crossed the shell floor on her bare feet, feeling the thousands of souls crowding behind her, swirling around her... Her heart burned with sympathy for them, and the glyphs and the fossils on the wall and doors--BURST with shining, LIVING light!

Ju-Li suddenly had to shield her eyes, it was so bright! The whole room was alive again, even without a body, every soul was sparkling and laughing like shell-bells, rushing around Sandy, imploring her, begging her, cheering for her, not even caring if they were one of the damned, as it had just been so damned long that they were trapped there, they cried out, "Open it! Open it! OPEN IT, OH PLEASE--!"

Their excitement filled up her chest. Their sparkling souls made her glowing eyes see things in seconds that it would take others weeks, months, even lifetimes to learn. Secrets and hidden things. Her mind couldn't remember most of it, but some of it stayed, as thanks, and as a sort of toll for her service...

She reached out with both hands, palms up flat. It felt like they were being magnetized, drawn to the doors like gravity... She made fists, and she could feel a cold weightless handle within them...

Swinging her arms out, the shining doors both flew wide open. With her arms held rigid up and by her sides in a T-like shape, and her feet frozen to the ground, she felt the souls behind her begin to rush past her, into the world beyond those doors... Dark, and yet full of light. Thousands of lights, shimmering and sparkling like stars... It was like a whole galaxy of stars beyond that door... But how could there be stars down here, in a place like this...?

The suction dragging the souls in was strong. Sandy and the vali seemed to have some kind of immunity to it, but Ju-Li almost lost her footing, almost was swept into the Star-world of the Beyond herself, but thankfully at the last minute she collided with Sandy's back, and hugged herself to Sandy's rigid, immoveable form until the gusts sucking in the souls around them had finally calmed down. In the meantime, Ju-Li stared wide-eyed over Sandy's shoulder, at the deeps, the shining souls in waiting and the dark void between them... They seemed content there... And yet...

Ju-Li knew she could never, ever be content there. She didn't want to keep moving forever, keep looking and searching forever... She wanted to find what she was looking for already. But the journey had still just barely begun...

She hugged Sandy's midsection, wondering if the other girl even knew she was there. After the whooshing windy sounds died down, and everything seemed still again, she finally asked, "Are they... All gone? Is it time to close the gate yet...?"

It somehow seemed a little scarier, looking at that Beyond-World when everything was still... Like it was calling to her even stronger now...

Sandy quickly slammed the doors shut again, and let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding... "They're all gone now... All of them..."

She looked around her, knowing before her eyes confirmed it. Including her mother... Dani was gone too. She brought the shell-hat back to her chest and hugged it over her heart...

Ju-Li's arms were still wrapped tight around her stomach. Sandy didn't take them off of her though. She crossed her arms over the other girl's, her stomach tingling at the reminder of the promise she'd made...

The glow died down. They were left in darkness. But it wasn't at all frightening. They were together, and yet alone. A peaceful lack of presence. Like the calm after you've confirmed a loved one has made it back home safe...

And slowly but surely, as they made their way out of the shell again, Sandy began to feel differently... She held Ju-Li's hand on the way up, like Dusty once held hers, and felt like... Like Dani was holding her hand too. Because her mother's sacrifice had made all things possible for her. She was holding Ju-Li's hand now because of her mother... And stroking Silver's mane because of her...

The smell of the fresh rain-washed air outside was due to her. The sun peeking behind a cloud and shining on her face. It was like being caressed by her mother's hand... All these years she'd felt so lonely, but now she knew she'd never feel like that again...

She sighed, and turned to the white mare before she turned to go, "Thank you so much for coming. All that was possible because of you... I wish you and your baby the very best, ma'am. And I hope for another safe birth for you someday... And I guess for me too, huh..."

She sounded rather nervous about it still, but it was what she had to do... So, why not hope for the best? 

The white mare then seemed to shake her head and snort towards Silver, in a way that suggested she was feeling humored. 

Sandy blinked in confusion after Silver had translated it for her, "Wait, huh...? Say hello to your son the next time we see him? But...?"

The mare didn't wait for Sandy to figure it out, though. She began trotting off down the mesa, swishing her tail and snickering to herself.

Sandy scratched her head, but then soon shrugged it off, turning back to Silver and Ju-Li instead, though also still musing to herself too, "Crescent Capes... And Sancta-Nova. We we're heading to Sancta-Nova anyways to look for the Hidden Library. This should be pretty fortuitous then, maybe? Perhaps, if we can manage to plan things out in advance, we can figure out how to get everything we came for with as little trouble as possible..."

Well, it was wishful thinking... But hoping and wishing along the way seemed to be helping out at least a little, so she decided to try her best to keep it going, both for herself Ju-Li, who she had to admit was handling all the weirdness Sandy kept throwing at her pretty well. She knew it couldn't be easy, and being around someone with such scary powers was probably frightening and took a lot of trust. She decided it would be best, before going any further, to try and make sure Ju-Li knew she trusted her too...

"Hey..." She spoke up, looking the other girl in the eye, now that her own had returned to it's much calmer violet shade. "Thank you for all this, Ju-Li... It means more to me than I can ever say that I got to see my mother one last time, and you helped make it possible too. I know Silver is my Destined, and she brought us here, but you brought her to me. And you've stayed me with. Nobody's ever really stayed with me before, until you and Silver came along... I just want you to know, whatever else happens along the way, I want us to still be friends when we've both found what we're looking for! And I'll do my best to help you find the sister you're looking for along the way too, because I know how hard it is to miss your family for so long... So. What do you say, ready to go?" She finally concluded a moment later, rubbing the back of her neck, and glancing around at the mesa, barren now but full of the rain it had just soaked up... In a way, it was 'pregnant' and full of the promise of a future life too. Were the Shugana really supposed to be the people of death? Sandy felt differently... Her people had nothing but promise for their future now, and she intended to bring it to life...

Climbing back up on Silver's back, and holding out a hand to help Ju-Li climb up too, Sandy concluded with purpose, "I'm sure we've both got family out there somewhere... But until then we've got each other at least, right?"

Ju-Li smiled past a tight throat and climbed up behind her, with her help. "It... Makes me happy to hear that. I felt a little lonely before you said that..." More than a little, truthfully. She still felt, deep down, as if she deserved to be excluded, even if it hurt so very badly, but it felt so good now to have Sandy let her know that her being there had helped her... It alleviated at least just a little of that guilt she felt, and made her feel like maybe it was right for her to be there after all... "I feel better now... Yes, we've got each other, Sandy. I promise I've got your back, and I trust you have mine too..."

She hugged her back tight, as if to prove she really did have it like she said, smiling and smelling her lavender skin and corn-yellow hair... She still smelled like flowers and lemons and berries. She smelled so nice, it was relaxing just to breathe in her scent for a while, and idly wonder if her sister smelled as nice, too...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO


	6. The Unforgettable Finding of the Lone Pearl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She's finally here...

There's a lot of girls in danger in this world. You're all worried about Teresa, no doubt. But there's another girl that all but a few of you might have forgotten about...

She was the only girl and a middle child, with two older brothers and two younger brothers. She got forgotten a lot unless someone needed her for something, but even then, her best efforts were rarely good enough. No one educated her much, then called her dumb. Her brothers were the smart and talented ones. Said she was only good for her pretty face. Married her young to one of her brother's friends.

And then her family forgot about her. She was Hank's then. Nessa, Nella, what was her name again? What did it even matter. She only tried to go home once when he started hitting. But her mother had no sympathy for her. Nelly's father never hit his wife actually, in that case the wife was the one who had her children under her belt, and the father was too busy to care. He'd only threaten them with worse if they complained about their mother's treatment, which he assumed to be 'love-taps' because she was "only a woman", after all. So she knew she could get away with almost anything as long as there wasn't too many marks for the neighbors to become unsettled about. No one would believe sweet old Mrs. Jessica would ever do the things her serpent-tongued daughter said...

Just like now, no one would believe friendly, funny and fun-loving Hank would ever hurt his wife too bad, and if he did, she surely must've done something to deserve it... Often times, the tortures that left no marks were worse than the usual simple slap... But she could -usually- appease Hank enough to keep him from getting really bad...

But oh god, the day before that dinner with Dusty, that was one of the worst... Even though she did her damnedest to keep the place clean, somehow some little kangaroo-rat had hopped in through the door when she was coming back in with a bucket of water from the pump, and she was so busy with the rest of the cleaning that day she hadn't noticed it until, unfortunately, Hank noticed it first... Cowering in a corner of the room, he stomped on it when it tried to hop away, smearing it's blood and guts on the floor... Then he threw Nelly down over its carcass, and stomped on her shrieking face, arms and torso a few times with his dirty boot and told her that if it ever happened again she'd been an ex wife. And she knew he didn't mean by divorce. 

He already told her a few times before he could make it look like an accident. Or like she did herself in. She was starting to think that he just really wanted to kill her eventually someday no matter what...

He didn't catch her eating Dusty's food, thank god, she almost choked she ate it so fast... But the next day all hell broke loose. Of all people, the most wanted man in the world Earnest Greed had hit their little town, and after he ransacked the place and left most people in town with nothing of value, it spread through town like wildfire that Dusty's poor strange sister Sandy was going to be hanged the next day. It didn't seem fair to Nelly, but what could she do to help anyone else when she couldn't even help herself? Chances were good she'd be dead like Sandy was if she tried to help her, Hank was already pissed to hell about the whole situation and was barking at her about everything...

Then the next day came, the day of the execution. Nelly didn't want to see it, but Hank dragged her there. She knew better than to try and beg to stay home, so she just planned to shut her eyes... To everyone's utter shock though, they got a hell of a lot more of a show than they were expecting, and Nelly found herself staring wide-eyed the whole way through it instead. Sandy and the strange little Lone Pearl-Imposter somehow managed to get away by using some kind of horse with magical powers! Or was it them that had the magical powers? Hard to tell, maybe both? Either way, they left the whole place shaken and/or stunned, flying away unharmed even though several men tried to shoot at them and several more eyewitnesses swore the bullets went right though them but didn't make a wound at all! Nelly had seen it herself, the girls both took several bullets right through their backs and were completely fine afterwards!

Hank dragged her home seething, fuming, but almost silent. It was terrifying in a way Nelly had never quite felt before, and this man had been terrorizing her since the moment their honeymoon ended...

As soon as the door slammed when they got home, he threw her to sit in a nearby chair and began to pace. "Witch, damn it, I KNEW she was a witch -- And the girl with her, probably that Teresa slut they took was a witch too, probably half the damn women in this whole TOWN or MORE are a bunch of goddamn WITCHES!"

He just about always looked angry except for when others were around, but Hank was now starting to look paranoid and unhinged in a way she'd never witnessed before. Then he steeled an angry fire-poker stare at her, as if trying to stare at her naked soul, as if he could ever even understand it at all, and yet arrogantly believed he knew her better than she knew her own self...

"YOU!" He pointed a finger at her and her heart froze over with fear. "IF YOU AINT A DAMN WITCH THEN GET IN THAT KITCHEN AND MAKE SOMETHING HALF-DECENT FOR ONCE! I WANT A DAMN FEAST TONIGHT, YOU HEAR ME?!"

He then grabbed her by her skinny arm, threw her into the kitchen, and took over the chair he had previously thrown her into. The door closed mostly shut behind her, just barely ajar... 

Her mind began to race. Her heart pounded, panicked. What had she seen that day... What had Sandy done... And now in her wake, what was Hank eventually going to do to her... She knew, this would never end well for her now... He'd gotten it into his head now that she and every other woman he wanted to suspect was a witch was indeed one. And if he wanted some kind of special meal from her with the regular supplies they always had on hand, well hell, she'd have to actually be some kind of damn witch to pull something like that off...

For a brief moment, she just barely considered the venomous option of making a -really- extra 'special' meal, but no, that wasn't even possible of course -- Hank never kept extra cleaning supplies on hand for that very reason, not that she'd ever tried before, but with what he did to her he supposed he ought to be cautious. He only bought enough bleach and other chemicals to clean the house, and made sure she used every drop. 

So what on earth could she do now... It was clear by now that he was going to kill her sooner than later, and chances were good he could get away with it by just claiming she was a witch. Her ma had since died and her pa moved to another town and remarried. Her brothers were all similarly distant. No one was around who would even miss her or challenge him over it...

No one would do anything for her... If she didn't do something...

The slightly ajar door suddenly slammed open, hitting the wall, nearly making her jump out of her skin. Hank was staring intently at her... Doing nothing. She had lost herself for a moment, deep in thought over her still half-baked plans for escape, she hadn't been moving to make his dinner at all for about five minutes...

"What the HELL are you doing, you little witch?!!" He demanded, and before she could answer, he did so for her, "NOTHING! THAT'S WHAT!! At least not making my damn food, yer heads off in the clouds, off up there with the other witches, HUH?! YOU LITTLE WITCH! IF YOU AIN'T A WITCH THEN YOU BETTER DO EXACTLY WHAT I SAY!!!"

She suddenly realized... This is how it would be, no matter what, until she died by his hand... 

She had always just assumed that death by Hank's hands would at least be better than whatever horrible fate would await her in the wild. But suddenly, she had a different thought: How boring, to know exactly which monster would kill you, and to know that he would waste your body too. After Dusty was kind enough to give her a meal, she figured she'd at least pass the favor along to some other creature herself, and at least let her death be a surprise for her, and a meal for another. That's how she decided she'd prefer to die now.

But first she had to get away from here alive, and with how hatefully Hank was staring at her, she knew the chances were slipping every second... Panic was already bubbling up in her as soon as he tried to take a single step forward it suddenly boiled over, and she turned behind her, grabbed a mug and a plate from the clean pile on the counter, and without thinking about it, chucked both of them at Hank. The mug hit him square in the face, stunning him, making him hold his nose which was bleeding and possibly broken. The plate then crashed on the wall right next to his head, making him jerk around, staring at her through his bloody fingers in horrified astonishment, "WHAT THE FF--?!"

She'd never done anything like this, ever. She was deader than dead if she cowered down now. Instead she screamed at him like a demon of death, a woman possessed, the silly made-up story coming to her mind in an instant, she began to shout out the lie like she actually really -believed- it, "YOU WANT ME TO BE A WITCH?! FINE! THEN I WILL BE ONE!" She grabbed another couple of plates and hurled them both across the room at him, both hitting him on the shoulder and side of the head, and crashing to the floor after, surrounding him with shards and blood. 

Then with an incredible ferocious strength she never would have suspected she had before she suddenly needed to do this, and while he was stunned and cowering by the last two assaults, Nelly grabbed the corner of a nearby table that was halfway between them and dragged it fully in front of her, flipping it over like a barrier. Fast as lightning, she grabbed the handles of several mugs at once and began pelting him once at a time, screaming all the while, "YOU AWFUL, STUPID BASTARD, DIDN'T YOU KNOW SANDY COULD MAKE OTHER WOMEN INTO WITCHES?! WELL NOW I -ACCEPT-! SANDY HAS GIVEN ME THE POWER TO KILL -YOU-, HANK! SO YOU'D BETTER GODDAMN -RUN- OR I SWEAR I'LL -KILL YOU DEAD HANK-!!"

He fell for it. He ran from the room and her barrage of assaults, she even still had one mug left over unbroken by the time he was gone, screaming in true and genuine terror from her...

It felt amazing, but the terror hit her very quickly after, that she knew it wouldn't last... The adrenaline still rushing through her, she grabbed the sheet from the upturned tabletop and gathered the fallen apples and the bread she baked that morning from the floor and tied them up together in the sheet, along with the one unbroken mug and a carving knife that was still on the counter. Once she threw that over her shoulder, she went out the back exit, opposite the direction she'd sent Hank running out the front.

Their horse were kept in a shed in the back and he was still there, so that was lucky. Nelly got on him as fast as she could, not worrying about the saddle. It did make it harder to keep on, but she only needed to keep on long enough to put some distance before anyone got the guts to come looking for her. Which turned out to be a good amount of time -- Sandy had really given people a scare, and with how docile Nelly usually was and how Hank looked when he came running for help, a lot of the men were reluctant to keep pursuing all the crazy stuff that was happening lately...

She still went as fast as she could though, not trusting that Hank wouldn't get his bad attitude back sooner than later. As soon as she made it to the nearby wilderness, she got off the horse, prepared to send it back. She wasn't going to get her ride eaten too, and so she was about to send it back, but before she did, she paused. There was something left undone still.

Then she felt it, and looked down at the ring on her finger and all the memories with it. How happy she'd been when she first got it. But now she knew it was just a rock, just like Hank's promises were only ever lies...

Still though. Even that rock deserved to be free, and Hank deserved to not be able to return the ring back in for much worth. So after some effort, she pulled the little white stone free and tossed it back to the earth, then tied the ring to the horse's mane before sending him back the way he'd come. And unless they caught her, as far as Nelly was concerned, that was that...

She wandered off into the wilderness, determined to just keep moving away from her old life until the first wild animal that came across her took her to the next one... But despite hearing all kinds of sounds constantly around her, following every howl she heard in the distance, days later she was somehow still alive. Plenty of scratches from the wild brush, the thorny bushes and the trees with bark almost as jagged as stone, thankfully she at least hadn't run into any cacti, especially since there was a breed with one very long spike in the middle of it's trunk, and it wasn't all that rare to occasionally find one with some kind of skeleton attached, animal or human. The planet provided bountifully if you knew where to look, but if you weren't careful where you were looking, it was just as glad to make you a meal for someone else -- Sometimes even kabob style. And that just wasn't how she wanted to go...

But she got to thinking while she was out there... Most people were like her. Not that special. The planet, the gods, whatever might be out there watching her pitiful attempt to live or die, would simply recycle her in one way or another eventually. Not just her body, but her soul too. Only some really special souls deserve to be remembered, she felt. She had always been a somewhat pretty, but otherwise rather forgettable face. And it was the same with her soul... Surely whatever had given her this life would be all too glad to recycle her and hopefully make something better next time... 

She was at least satisfied knowing that someone like Hank wasn't special enough to be remembered either, not just by the cosmos or the gods, but even as someone as forgettable as Nelly...

And fortunately or unfortunately, the wild animals all around her seemed to have miraculously lost either their appetite or their hunting skills, because after almost a week of traveling, nothing had yet to gobble her up. In fact, she had even fattened herself up as much as she could with the little food she thought to grab on the way out the door, and was now hungry all over again. Damn. How was she supposed to get eaten now that she couldn't get her mind off of food...

Using the mug she got water from a nearby river that she kept close enough to, but she didn't have anything to boil it and was lucky not to get sick. She was similarly lucky not to pick anything poisonous along the way, despite her not really caring if she did. She assumed her luck had to run out at some point but damn this was taking longer than she expected... She almost started to consider eating something she knew for sure was poisonous... But no, not that way... At least, not unless she got hungry enough, maybe... At the very least though, she damn well refused to go back...

A few more days passed. She'd eaten all the safe berries she could find in the area. Then she tried catching a frog or a fish at the river. But they were too fast and slippery, and she was too weak, tired, and cold. Her fingers were numb from the river-water, even in midday it was barely any warmer and the current was so strong, if she wasn't careful it might sweep her away...

Then again... Maybe that might be the best way to go...? Once she had drowned the fishes would eat her...

She hadn't realized she'd been staring at the river for over an hour when suddenly a very large and very dark figure suddenly appeared beside her at the bank. She gasped deep and moved away just barely glimpsing at it from the corner of her vision. A strong virile equine body, covered in muscles, tall enough to shadow her from the sun, and yet the head and face... It was long like a horse head should be, but it was oddly somewhat skinny and gaunt, like the head was starving and close to death even though the rest of the body was packed to bursting with vigor and strength. Almost pitch black like a shadow, and with eyes as soulless as the smooth black pebbles at the bottom of the riverbed...

Those stoney eyes focused on the river at first, drinking his fill... But his attention suddenly snapped to focus on her, specifically, her hand, resting on a fallen log she was leaning against--And as soon as she saw that he was looking that way, she just barely noticed a little kangaroo-rat perched right next to her hand on the log--SNAP! Before the monstrous black beast reached in and captured the entire rodent in his jaws, and crushed it with his blunt teeth. One little half-squeak and a gross wet crunch later, and the poor little hairy hopper was dead before dusk...

Nelly caught the gasp in her throat, leaning away from the creature while he took the little vermin away with him. What the hell...? What the HELL? Horses wouldn't normally just eat a damn rat like that, what the hell was that thing...?!

Then again... It was the first predator she'd managed to get that close to so far... So she decided to follow after it and see if he was still hungry. If nothing else it was something to do... Watching this weird savage horse-like beast and what it would do with that kangaroo-rat it kept in it's mouth, not eating it right away, but carrying it with it somewhere...

The horse took her a long ways from the river. They were already off the beaten path, but the beast kept going deeper into the wilderness. The deeper he went, the darker it was getting. The shadowy beast almost began to blend in so well with the surrounding darkness, it was starting to get hard to tell if he was still ahead of her...

But then past the inky darkness and the shroud of trees ahead of her, an ember in the distance caught her eye, and as she kept walking towards it, she realized the ember was in fact a full campfire. And sitting around the campfire were several strange females...

They were strange just for the fact that there were any females out in the wild like this at all, let alone a whole group of them. And they were all wearing settler's clothing. It would be one thing if it seemed like a group of native women out in the forest, that would still be a little strange, but a group of settler women out in the wilderness? No, that was definitely extra-extra strange. Settlers generally discouraged their females from leaving their homes without protection from the head of the household or some other male, if not outright forbid it.

There was no such man here, and all of the women around the campfire were clearly unrelated to each other. The first woman Nelly noticed was a very large brown-skinned lady, both rather tall and rather fat, stirring the pot that was situated over their campfire, adding a bit of herbs from her apron pockets here and there. To her left were two younger-looking teenager girls, both with tanned skin and brown eyes, but one had dirty, dark brown and scraggly hair, like tree bark (Nelly could swear there was even some bits of green moss stuck in that girl's impossibly frizzy hair...) while the other one had very fine auburn hair, just a bit of brown in it but mostly a deep burgundy red, shiny and sleek like silk. Next to them was a light-skinned lady, who seemed the most out of place in the fancy dark blue dress she was sitting at the campfire in. The other women and girls were wearing pants, shorts or short skirts, and kept their darker colored hair either down without care, or in a ponytail out of their face. But the lighter-skinned lady had hair the color of a golden apple, up in curls -- Not the tightest curls anymore, but Nelly was hardly regal enough to notice.

The last woman in the group, the one that the huge shadowy beast came to settle down behind, patted him without fear as he settled his thick neck over her shoulder and dropped the kanga-rat into her waiting palms. She immediately praised his gift, apparently sounding genuinely grateful for it rather than horrified and disgusted as most would surely be. "Ah, my faithful Shadow... I see your hunting trip was quite successful tonight..."

She seemed so normal. So average. So much so that Nelly knew she couldn't possibly believe her eyes. Light skin, dark brown hair and eyes. All too average for a settler woman... But then Nelly finally saw it. The thing that made her realize this couldn't possibly be just some average woman sitting out here in the middle of nowhere...

The pearl earring...

Then she turned her head towards Nelly's direction, revealing the other ear to be bare... It was either really her, or it was another imposter. Either way, whoever the woman really was, she demanded to know from Nelly now, lacking patience but otherwise unafraid of whatever lurked beyond. "Who's there? Come closer to the light now, real slow-like..."

The chef stopped stirring the pot and pulled out a pistol from the pocket that didn't have herbs. The curly-haired blonde stopped playing clapping games with the younger girls and they all stared in her direction. 

She seemed to have no choice but to walk forward... Putting her hands up as the chef kept the gun focused on her. Only when she reached the campfire and revealed her own skinny female self and her lack of any weapons did the chef finally put the gun back in her pocket, and then promptly motioned for her to sit. "Shadow is a good hunter alright... But always bringing something skinny! Sit down, skinny girl. I ain't lettin' you leave until you put some meat on your bones..." 

Between the insistent chef with a weapon on her right and the most wanted woman in the world on her left, well, there didn't seem to be much choice at the moment. Apparently Nelly was going to have dinner with these fine folks.

She crept a few steps closer. But she wasn't exactly sure where to sit, or if she should even sit at all. There -was- a spot just next to the woman Nelly sorely suspected was the Lone Pearl, the curly haired blonde woman sitting on the other side of her, but Nelly could never... Except oh dear, now that suspiciously unsuspicious brown-haired lady was patting the empty space on the log she was sitting on, smiling mischievously with that creamy-purple pearl glowing like a little moon on her ear... 

Unable to say no, Nelly gingerly sat down next to her, hands clasped over her skinny legs and knobby knees.

The Lone Pearl was still looking at her, while skewering the rat on a stick... She was so weird to behold, Nelly couldn't help but think, unable to stop looking at her through the corner of her eyes while the Pearl outright stared at her without shame. She wasn't nearly as big or tall as Nelly had always imagined? She was only a bit bigger than Nelly overall. It seemed men had greatly exaggerated the tales of how tall she was, so they wouldn't be so embarrassed about being defeated by her, she supposed. That, or they had only ever seen her riding from the back of that enormous beast, and had falsely assumed her to be nearly as tall as her mount.

"Come. Sit down, new girl." The Lone Pearl, though she didn't seem so lonely right now, in this little party she'd collected and found, seemingly commanded her to do, but in an amicable enough way that Nelly didn't mind following the command, especially since her feet were closer to killing her than anything else had so far on this journey. But then came the much more difficult 'request', "Tell us all about yourself..."

Nelly looked from one girl to the next, and then from one woman to another. "...B-B-Beg your p-p-pardon..." She finally forced herself to say, so caught up in and yet out of place in this situation. "Y-You all... Seem m-muh, much m-more i-interesting than m-me...?"

"Maybe." The dark haired lady they all respected so much smoothly interrupted. "Probably..." She added truthfully but not meanly. "But... The rest of US already know how we all got here. You're the only one we don't know about. So fill us in, what's a nice gal like you going out in the middle of the wilderness like this? Don't you know there's all kinds of dangerous beasts out here?" Almost as if on cue, a werepig squeal-howled in the not-too-distant distance... A chill went through Nelly realizing that if she hadn't been led here, she likely would have been found by that thing by now... Despite that being her first intention, it suddenly seemed at least a bit nicer to be sitting by this nice, warm fire... And even though she had no shelter over her head, it seemed unlikely anything would attack when among her current company...

Taking a few extra seconds this time to calm herself, Nelly tried again, "M-My husband... H-He's been hitting me a long time... S-Someone's... Always... Been hitting me, or telling me what to do..."

No one said anything. But they were all listening to her. Each and every one of these very interesting ladies was really -listening- to her, eyes on her, the blonde one and the chef nodding along with her. The two smaller girls had stopped their games and were looking on at her too, letting her speak without any interruptions...

She continued, but now she was looking up, especially at the girl with the pearl in particular... "It's been getting worse and worse... Was just gonna keep getting worse until he killed me... I realized that a few days ago. The whole town was mad about Earnest Greed burning the mayor's place and stealing everyone's best stuff, they'd already tried to kill a local half-breed girl--"

"Half native, if you please." The Pearl corrected her gently but firmly there. "Sorry to interrupt. I know you got that term in your head from the likes of your husband though..."

Nelly's heart skipped a beat and her gut dropped, and she quickly nodded in embarrassment, agreeing not just to appease them, but truly agreeing. "O-Oh, r-right! So yeah, they tried to kill her, and some other girl that they claimed was the Lone Pearl, b-but...?"

Looking at the lady with the pearl earring in inquiry, the darker haired woman nodded in somber acknowledgment, and "admitted" indirectly as she answered, "An imposter, or a decoy. They go through at least a couple or more every year. Poor girls... Whenever I hear of one I try to save them if I can make it in time, or at least make sure to put the offenders on my Shit List... Might not get to them personally but I at least send someone. But you said they "tried" to kill her...?"

Nelly nodded, not hesitating to supply the information their leader was asking of her, especially not when the Lone Pearl so generously offered her the first bite of the skewered and recently roasted kanga-rat. Not so appealing an offer most days, but Nelly was truly starving, and knowing that being offered first bite here was indeed an honor, she graciously accepted. All the hair had been burned away and the Pearl had even sprinkled a dash of salt on the meat from her pocket. It was as good as any meal out here, and it was even a hot meal on top of it...

She began to quickly nibble at the meat, stripping it down to the bone with a sudden voracious hunger, an appetite not just for the taste or the meat, but for life. She tried to mind at least a few manners but she got the distinct impression that no one here was judging her for anything... It was the first time in her life ever feeling like that.

After picking most of the meat clean and even letting out a small belch, she shyly began to resume, "The native girl, Sandy, she suddenly starting using these crazy powers out of nowhere! Or maybe it was the weird horse that was with her. I don't think I saw the Decoy Girl using any kind of powers, she was just hitching a ride from Sandy, I think... Either way, they managed to get away from the gallows just in time because for some reason nobody could shoot them, their bullets kept going right through them! They just flew away unharmed! Unless they were already ghosts...?" She suddenly wondered, because surely that had to be as likely as anything at this point.

But the Pearl shook her head, rather matter-of-fact-like despite the really odd topic. "Ghosts are real, but they're rare. Spirits don't like to bother going through the hassle of tethering themselves to the living world without a very good reason. Only the greatest of love or the greatest of hatred will make a dead soul stick to the other side. If they rode away they were alive. If they were dead they would have stayed and put on a hell of a show. Interesting to know there's a beast out there with powers like that though, that could either be a big help or a big problem... So. They got away. That's good. Can't really afford to send out any more of my best men right now, trying to keep our ranks spread enough not to be found but close enough for contact. Not easy but nothing worth doing ever is. Enough about that though--I assume after this successful escape attempt you were getting hell from your husband for it, despite having nothing to do with it? You mentioned he was accustomed to hitting you. How did you manage to get away?"

She was smiling while she asked her. As if she pretty much already knew. As if the simple sight of her sitting before them all was all the proof anyone should need, but she wanted to hear the words from her own mouth. And to be honest... Nelly kind of wanted to hear it from herself now too. "He was in a hell of a mood alright... Fit to take it out on me... And I knew I just couldn't handle it again. No... I knew I -wasn't- going to do it again... When he came after me I threw just about every damn dish in the house at him. All except this one..." Nelly mentioned, pulling out the simple white-painted clay mug that had survived. "I mean I would've thrown this one too, but he'd started running from the house by then, so..."

The cook started to laugh real loud, straight from her belly. The other women clapped and whistled for her while she commented, "I bet he ran! Coz I bet he never ever saw you fight before that!"

"Let's see that lucky mug there, sis..." The regal-looking blonde requested, one of her curls suddenly outstretching from her head, around the group, winding to take the mug's handle from Nelly's shocked and shaking hand and then bringing it back to her. The lock of hair could go from limp to winding to curling and stiff, all of these states it could move between fluidly. It could get longer, and yet seemingly didn't mind being cut, as the lady did just that as it returned to her with the mug. She then threw the hair into the fire, creating a spectacular gold sparkle in the flames for a few seconds. "Cute and practical enough~ But here, let's just add a thing or two..." 

She then passed the mug to the two little girls. The more delicate-looking auburn-haired one suddenly vomited some spit and bile into the cup, swished it around, and then tossed the contents into a nearby bush. Then she handed it to her dirty little companion, who wiped the inside of it with her dress before handing it back to Nelly.

Confused, she frowned a little bit as she accepted it back. "Th-Thanks...?"

The chef belly-laughed again. "Girl, you're gonna have to get used to our weird little gifts! They can turn out to be plenty handy though, if you know how to use 'em... Here." She suddenly pulled out a metal mug from who knew where and handed it to Nelly. "You gonna wanna drink outta that one, since your pretty white mug is now permanently poisoned!"

The redhead added somewhat smugly, "And that poison kills fast, once ingested. Contact with the skin will at least burn..."

She stared down at the cup. Obviously she could never drink from this again... But it raised all kind of possibilities on who possibly could be made to drink from it...

Wait. Was she really thinking that? This was crazy. This was all insane. But goddamn that barbecued rat was so good. She'd just finished stripping it down to the skeleton... And she felt more full of energy from it than she had eating anything else in her entire life... She was energetic, but also, she was curious... "Y-You said... I mean, d-did you say you sometimes send your 'best men' to do work for you...? Don't you maybe mean, your best women?"

Lone Pearl shook her head. "No? My Best Women are right here." She motioned around her and the other ladies laughed. "Believe it or not I actually do have a few men working for me too. A very, very small few... A very -select- few. I know its crazy but there ARE a few good men out there. It's just unfortunately now become something of an endangered species in this world... When men can be as bad as they want, very few of them bother to be good, because deep down, most of them don't want to be good... But I'm not stupid. I'm not going to let any man into my ranks that doesn't bend over backwards to prove himself. And I'm not going to just put all my trust in some girl that just shows up out of nowhere, not without her proving herself too. But... Being willing to eat my awful cooking gracefully sure goes a long way to earning my favor~ I know I'm not as good a chef as our Phenomenal, but tell me Nelly, how did you like my roast kanga-rat~?"

"It's good..." Nelly immediately mumbled back between bites, murmuring in amazement out loud afterwards, "It's -really- good, actually? I've never tasted meat this good before? And... I gotta say, Miss Lone Pearl, ma'am...? I'm... Really amazed that you actually remembered my name... Th-Thank you, for that..." There were people in town that 'knew' her for years and still called her Nessie or Norma or whatever...

The Pearl flashed her own pearly white teeth at her in a grin for that. "You kidding? I never forget a face, for a gal like me it's essential, but especially a face as lovely and open and honest as yours? No way darling. You're Unforgettable. That's what you are..."

She'd never heard words like those before. No one ever remembered her, not for anything good she ever did, and not even for anything bad. She hadn't been deemed memorable one way or the other by anyone, ever, and now? The most interesting and powerful woman in the entire world was calling her... Unforgettable?

She suddenly never wanted to be called anything else ever again...

"I feel... Like I could really jump for joy right now..." Nelly confessed shyly, her eyes almost wanting to gather water, but too distracted by all the happiness she was feeling. She'd never felt so happy, so full and supported...

"Do it." The Pearl told her simply, a grin stretching across her face. "You can do whatever you want now."

Her legs felt so strangely strong especially... Even though she'd been hiking for days and days, she suddenly felt like she could really jump all the way to the blue moon hanging overhead... Crouching down for a moment, she stared up at that big glowing orb, fixed on the sight of it... And then she gave a great leap forward, jumping up into the air with all the strength she currently felt inside of her.

That moon... Was suddenly much more terrifyingly close than she expected it to be. The jump that she had expected to take her 2 or 3 feet into the air... Had instead sent her at least 500 feet at jet-speed straight up into the open SKY.

Her eyes went huge, her limbs flailed in mid-air, surrounded by nothing to grasp. It was much colder up there and she felt even colder than that realizing how far up she suddenly was, and how she had no idea how to get down, except for the most obvious...

She then started to fall, and so naturally, she started to scream. Obviously flailing her limbs wasn't doing anything helpful so it kind of seemed for a second like she might just plummet to her death below, however it was that below had gotten so far...

But instead? The dark-haired angel Lone Pearl, or demon depending on your perspective, zipped right into the sky next to her, plucking Nelly out of mid-fall into her arms, which Nelly realized quite quickly were much stronger and more muscular arms than she remembered on the woman before... Those arms were so big they were almost more like a man's, actually...?

Not only that, but that strong firm body of hers... It was levitating, holding Nelly up against the force of gravity still trying to drag her back down to the ground. She had no wings but... They were really flying, somehow...?

The Pearl smirked down at her, squeezing her torso tight with her enhanced, muscular arms, mentioning and confirming, "Whoa there Nelly! Yer lucky one of my own powers just happens to be Flight! Fight or Flight, that's what I like to call it. Well... Fight, Flight or Freeze... That Freeze bit I like to keep my own little secret though, hehe. You'll know you've really gotten to know me if you ever get to see me use Freeze. But for the most part, these are the powers that you've heard about Nelly. Why men fear me and believe me to stand as tall as they do, and fight just as ferociously. Because I DO. I've had these abilities ever since Shadow gifted me our first meal together when I was just a child... How I regret that I cannot remember what it was we ate though, or the exact taste... All I remember is that it was the most delicious thing I've ever had, and that nothing will ever compare... Oh well though..."

"You really don't remember it?" Nelly stressed to ask her, a little incredulous. The taste of that kangarat was so good she knew she could never forget it. She found herself really curious about what the Legendary Lone Pearl had eaten to get these amazing abilities. But then again, if she actually did remember despite what she claimed, she likely would still never share that information. 

But Lone Pearl seemed nothing but genuine so far, and especially now as she answered a bit distantly, "There's a lot of things that I've forgotten about my past, my childhood... Most things, actually. My name, my family's name... But it doesn't matter. I don't even want to remember them. Where I came from doesn't matter to me now, only where I'm going and what I'm doing. Those damned men call themselves kings but they are demons from hell. They are killing the people and poisoning the planet, a planet that gave them refuge after they made waste to the last planet they left behind. They left their own mother, their own living home, behind like it was worthless to them, because they made it that way? And they just want to come here and ruin this planet after taking all of its good things too? Bullshit. I won't let them... All my followers decided they wouldn't stand by and let them either. What about you, Nelly? You can take what I've given you and go... Or you can stick around with my group of like-minded gals and gentlemen and pay it forward, and see what else might be out there waiting for you... What do you think, Nelly?"

Surrounded by the stars above, the land below, and all the horizons around her... It all was just as impossibly big as it always had been compared next to little old her, but now, from up here, with her? It somehow seemed... Closer. More open, more free...

"...Anyone who would want to destroy something like this needs to be stopped..." She finally declared, the first time she'd ever been allowed to declare something so big for herself. "And I... Finally have the power to fight back, because of you, so of course I'll help..."

The Lone Pearl shook her head at that though, looking a little distant despite confirming for the other girl kindly, "You always had the power to fight back. You made it to me because you decided to fight back. What you lacked was the power to leap for what you truly desired, not just to get away from what you didn't. That's the power I gave you. I will ask just one more time to make sure -- You will use this power to aid me, and aid others? To help others who were worthy like you find their own power too?"

Awed into muteness, Nelly could only nod. Lone Pearl smiled and nodded back, then told her down-to-business-like, "Alright, good! Now I'm going to drop you."

Nelly sputtered, "W-Wait, what--?!"

But the Lone Pearl laughed. "Look at your pretty new feet, woman! You'll always land on them now!"

Nelly looked across from her body. Her feet and toes did feel different. Cold, first of all, because they had virtually exploded right out of her little shoes when they had suddenly grown over twice as long as they used to be in the few seconds it had been since the initial leap into the air. Other than that, her calves also felt abnormally strong and spring-y... But besides that she didn't feel any other changes in her body and presumably didn't look any different than she ever had, besides the new extra big feet...

A silly insecure girl might've once felt insecure about that but... This power was too great and too tempting to care.

"Okay... Drop me." She finally committed, but this time when she felt the plunge, she felt no fear, and her feet aimed for the ground. Her hair rushed into the air, she bunched up her calves and knees... When she felt herself hit the ground, her whole body felt the impact coil up in her calves. It was intense, but it didn't hurt. The force from the fall made her hop a few extra times before she safely landed, but... She did. She landed safely on her own two feet after falling from a drop of at least three hundred...

She had also landed within only fifteen feet or so of the snort-snarling were-pig that had been skulking around the woods all night... Teeth and hind legs immediately drawn, ready for attack on the sight of her...

But she was ready now too. Scrambling to her feet again, she took another jump this time, away from the predator, but with much less force in her legs this time. Instead of five hundred feet she only rose about fifty or so. Hopping at this height, she easily avoided the predator, and from her vantage points managed to find the group's fire once again.

When she got back to them, the Lone Pearl was already back, and the chef, Phenomenal as the Pearl had called her, was serving up everyone some soup. It seemed to have mostly vegetables and herbs in it but it was very tasty and fragrant.

"So how did that feel?" The Pearl inquired before spooning a potato to her mouth from her bowl, smiling knowingly all the while.

"...I don't want to feel any other way ever again." Nelly answered just as honestly. "It was... Unforgettable." She smiled as she admitted it, the grin growing as she accepted it. "And... I want to be Unforgettable too."

"You already are." The Pearl nodded, then pointed to the rest of the group next. First was the chef, "Phenomenal." She named, and then explained of her, "One of my strongest. A real earth-shaker, literally. When I first met her she was already burning some bastard's house down who tried to enslave her and her family. Now the parts of the house that didn't burn down is her family's new home, and she rides with me~"

Phenomenal gave her a salute at that. "Don't worry, I'm no pyromaniac, I only set fires now to cook -- If I wanna bring a house down I just crumble the foundation from under it!"

Lone Pearl then used her thumb to indicate the regal-looking blonde by her side. "The sensational lady beside me is just that, Sensational~ She gave up a life of luxury to slum it out here with us, and she's the one keeping us looking good, or whatever way she's making us look, as she's one of the several masters of disguise under my employ. It's a pretty important job so stay on her good side!"

Sensational smiled and shook her hand... With a hand-shaped lock of hair. "I'm pretty easy to get along with, just don't get tangled up with any bad guys or I'll have to cut you off~"

"And the brats." Pearl quickly grinned, much to the amusement of the giggling girls. "Dirty Brat is called Exceptional. We didn't name her that -just- because of her smell, she just really needs a bath right now..."

"And yer gonna have to push me into another river or lake to give me one." The stinky lil girl grumbled back to her, holding a toad she had just found like a puppy and kissing on the creature's head.

"Right..." Lone Pearl rolled her eyes at that, even though she completely believed her and was fully prepared to do it again, and soon. "And the Foul-Mouthed Brat Remarkable there is the one we don't have to force into life or death situations to bathe. However, she is the one we have to make sure has her own cup and to never ever ever eat anything her lips have touched. That pretty face hides enough poison to kill any person in the world ten times over with just a lick of spit..."

"It's not like I fuckin' chose to be this way..." Remarkable grumbled back, "The others chose to get their powers from eating Shadow's gifts. I got mine by accident. I don't even eat meat. I ate a flower... A flower I thought would poison me, kill me... But instead, it 'chose' me..."

Exceptional hugged her, and Remarkable apparently didn't mind the smell at first, but she did mind when she accidentally got a small shock from the apparently Electric Exceptional, and nudged her back away after that. But Exceptional still mentioned, "You shouldn't have wanted to die so young... All because those bad meanies wanted to make you marry their gross son. And they called ME gross... Twenty years old and having a fit to make a ten year old be his bride just because she's the "pwettiest"! ...He and everyone who let him get away with trying to force you to marry him DESERVED to be poisoned to death!"

Pearl nodded right away to that, "I agree wholeheartedly... But. It was also Remarkable's spit that did it, not ours, Exceptional... It's a heavier taste to have on your own tongue personally sometimes... But she's right, Remarkable. I know why you do, but you shouldn't feel guilty. I promised I wouldn't make you poison anyone and I swear I won't... I trust you to know when to use the powers you were chosen for. Just don't at least feel guilty for having to use them to save your own life..."

The red-headed Remarkable nodded, not happy again, but consoled, and set back into her vegetable and herb soup, which Nelly now realized was made specially for her. She trusted Phenomenal made it with Love, too.

So, that just left one person... Nelly herself, who the Pearl now turned to, smiling genuinely, welcomingly... Honestly happy to have her there, as if she knew she was always meant to be there... That's how Nelly felt now, especially as Lone Pearl announced not just to the group, but to her, herself, "And now... Our newest member, the Unforgettable Unforgettable! The gal who finally served some whoop-ass on her husband with their very own tableware set! HAHAHA~!"

They all had a laugh over that, especially Nelly, no, Unforgettable, who now was free not to worry anymore about if death was the only thing that laid beyond a life with or without Hank... No, there was so much more, and she would never forget that again. She even added, toasting with her bowl of soup by holding it up. "To... To the girl who learned to leap for what she wanted, and the lady who gave her the legs!"

"Here, here!" The group shouted, and the were-pig howled horridly in the distance...

They all soon finished sipping their soups and fishing for chunks from the bowls, and after that they put the bowls away, Remarkable's separate of course, and the Pearl listened to the sounds of the beast finally finding something it could gnash in it's teeth, awful as the sound was it at least meant the beast would soon retire to bed with it's belly finally full and let them do the same. 

The Lone Pearl even smiled in a satisfied kind of way as she heard the eating of the were-pig, and stroked the ugly face of her huge Shadow-beast, curled up behind her back like a humongous dog. "Shadow has told me lots of secrets you know... About all kinds of things, but one of the most interesting is about the animals of this world... About all the things they eat... Shadow is a master hunter, better than most of the most ravenous, savage beasts in the land... He knows a -lot- about hunting, and eating..."

The girls went back to playing games with each other. The two other women started to smile knowingly though... Unforgettable listened in, as she realized she was being given a very rare privilege to... 

Now pulling out a few more critter's carcasses from a sack, the Pearl handed them to Phenomenal, who after searing off the fur or scales began to smother them in a bottle of sweet-savory sauce from her pocket and cook them over the fire. Lone Pearl went on as she prepared it, "You gotta be careful what you eat... Sometimes you become what you eat... And that's sometimes a good thing, in Unforgettable's case, but.... Once in a while, I bet... Something eats something else, and really wishes it hadn't..."

A mournful-sounding squeal pierced through the night... Unforgettable got the feeling it was for a reason... Lone Pearl went on, smiling wider than ever, the smile suddenly looking more like a weird crack on her face rather than a true smile... It made a shiver go through the new girl, but the words that followed soon made her understand, "Some men... Got here and decided they would devour everything. I've killed most of those men by now. But I lost a few people in the last battle I wish I hadn't too. I'd rather avoid all out war, though I'm not afraid of it coming to that either. Still though... If we are what we eat, then surely there's got to be a creature out there disgusting and pathetic enough to serve up as a worthy justice for the last King... We're taking a little extra time to find it, but once we do... Everyone will finally see King "Titan" for what he really is... Bet he'll feel a lot smaller once I'm through with him... And you know what they say, girls~ The way to a man's heart is through his stomach! HAHA~!"

Nelly laughed it all away with them. The bad times, the bad people, and her old forgettable name that nobody ever cared about... Unforgettable laughed, and jumped for the moon again, this time getting even just a little bit closer to the stars... When she got back down the women were still laughing, the girls giggling with them, hugging each other, Phenomenal sharing more sauce, Sensation's hair wiping faces with a napkin, the looming, hulking Shadow using his great height to gently nip at the tops of heads and just nibble a bit at pretty-smelling hair (except for Exceptional, of course) while the girls laughingly reached up to pat him...

She knew now... This was home. Even if they never set foot in a house again. Whenever they went was home...

And now, her first order of business as the new Unforgettable version of her... Was to help find the critter that would take down a king...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

(( A.N. Was originally gonna add a check-up on Teresa after this, but this chapter already got long enough, Lone Pearl and Nelly deserve it to themselves and Teresa deserves her own, and most importantly -I- deserve to save some sanity~! XD;; SO, hope you guys like Lone Pearl and her crew as much as I do! And if so please please PLEASE tell me so, I would make my whole day and then some! Please comment and/or kudo! Thank you!! ))


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